Hogwash
by Archiving Archie
Summary: If you can't blow them away with your brilliance, baffle them with your bullshit. (Slight AU) (Semi-SI)
1. Underwhelmed

AN: so, new story. shUDDUP I DO WHAT I WANT-

* * *

Sai is a _peculiar_ baby, Toshinori muses.

She is such a weird infant, not like any other that he met before.

When he first set his gaze on her, he saw a quiet yet observant baby, trying (and failing) to look at her surroundings.

When he stared into her eyes, all he saw was blue orbs shining with intelligence, disinterest and- did she just _really_ give him the stink eye?

Yes, _what a weird child indeed._

That doesn't mean Toshinori Yagi will love her any lesser though.

After all, she _is_ family.

* * *

 _'What the fuck is this.'_

Rin stared at the wannabe skeletor in front of her, trying to fathom the fact that she got impaled by a _giant-ass steel pole_ and somehow _still_ be alive and conscious enough to see some stranger's blue eyes boring into her very soul.

 _'Why the- what even-'_

She attempted to speak, but only managed to babble a series of gibberish nonsense. Rin suddenly squeaked, as the blue eyed stranger picked her up with seemingly no effort.

 _WHAT?! HOW?!_

She weighs about 49 kilos! Even her brother (who's at least _two_ times taller and stronger than this malnourished version of Yugi) _couldn't_ lift her! Wait, better question. _Why does he look bigger than an average human?!_

 _Oh god did aliens abduct her while she was dying-_

Rin was too busy internally panicking that she didn't notice that skeleton man is internally freaking out, too.

 _'AAAAAAAAAAAAAA-'_

The dam holding up her frustrated tears couldn't take it anymore. And so, Rin, for the first time in years, cried like a wuss.

* * *

Yagi expected the baby to cry as soon as he picked her up. What he didn't expect, however, is for Sai to stare at him incredulously, as if he had done something unnatural and completely out of logic.

He froze; did- did he do something wrong? Was he carrying the baby the wrong way? Was he making her uncomfortable?! She's so small and fragile and- **_she's crying!_**

 _WHAT DID HE DO?!_

Yagi, unsure of what to do with the wailing infant, decided to set her down back on her crib and proceeded to call someone who is well-versed in nursing a baby.

"I'm pretty sure Chiyo-san is an expert at these kind of things…"

* * *

 _'I'm hungry.'_

Rin stared at the ceiling blankly, feeling slightly tired after her initial breakdown. She attempted to get up on her feet, but it seems like it was too strenuous for her to do it.

Since when did she become _so_ weak, to the point of not being able to do something as simple as standing up?

She perked up, hearing the creaking of the door. Rin squinted at the woman beside Yugi-skeletor, only to have a slight headache from crossing her eye too much.

 _'Ow.'_

Rin noticed that the old woman was wearing some kind of nurse outfit, and that she's holding a… _bottled milk?_

 _Are… are they screwing with her or some shit?!_

'Don't even think of feeding me with that, woman!' She tried to scream, but only managed to produce a series of weird slurs that she thinks only a baby would be able to… make.

Oh. She _is_ a baby.

'I see.' Rin mused, looking completely underwhelmed. _'That answers some of my questions. Still, what did I do to deserve this though?'_

* * *

Blue eyes stared at her. She stared back blankly.

"You have a combination of your parents' eyes."

 _'Wait, what? I don't understand you. Please speak in English, and not in you weird kinda-Japanese alien language.'_

"Hm, you're very observant, for an infant."

 _'I DON'T UNDERSTAND YOU. WHY ARE YOU TALKING TO A BABY YOU-'_

"Sometimes… I wonder how things would change if your mother's alive." He muttered, as I detected sadness in his tone.

 _'Wait… he said **"kaa-san,"** am- am I in Japan or something?'_

 _'That… doesn't make any sense.'_

Rin suddenly yawned, feeling exhausted from all of the thoughts going through her head. 'Oh my god, out of all places, I got reincarnated in Japan.'

She blacked out.

* * *

 _Rin found herself back in her school ('previous school, since you died,' her mind corrected) with her friends, chatting with each other._

 _ **"Hey,"** One of her friends, Rie, suddenly said. **"Let's go to the old tree behind that new construction site."** She suggested, as the rest of them looked at each other with raised eyebrows._

 _Rye, Rin's cousin and also friend, blinked, **"You mean the one with the rumored haunted ghosts?"** He asked uncertainly, as Rie nodded. **"Wait, what? Why would we go there? That place is dangerous!"** He furiously whispered, as he turned to Rin and another one of her friends, Rey. **"C'mon guys, help me convince her to not go!"**_

 _Rin just nodded unconsciously, still confused as to why she's dreaming this right now._

 _ **"I don't know… Rie seems pretty pumped up about it right now…"** Rey spoke up, **"Do you seriously think we can change her mind?"** She deadpanned, as Rye sighed in defeat._

 _ **"What are you waiting for, guys?! Let's do this now!"** Rie exclaimed, getting up from her seat as we followed suit._

 _ **"Rie, if I ever die, you're paying for my funeral service."** Rin suddenly said without control, before blinking in shock at what she had just uttered._

 _ **"Aww don't worry Rin, I'm pretty sure all of those spooky things are just bull crap!"** Rie reassured her, although that reassurance led Rin to her inevitable death._

 ** _"…If you say so…"_**

* * *

Rin woke up with a start, yawning loudly. She blinked, realizing that she's back in the infant body.

 _'Goddamnit, I thought it was just a hallucination.'_

She also noticed that blue eyes is beside her prison cage- er, crib, sleeping on the chair he's sitting on.

Rin suddenly heard a loud growl, the source coming from her stomach. _'Oh crap.'_

She made a noise in an attempt to wake skeletor guy up because _damn_ she wants to take a fucking shit right now, but alas, the man slept through all her cries like a log. Rin internally groaned, both because of frustration and because she's _trying_ her best to prevent herself from taking a dump in her underwear.

Not only would that be gross and unsanitary, but it would also diminish whatever dignity she has left as a responsible adult- teenager.

Rin attempted to gain his attention again (this time by screaming her lungs out) and she apparently succeeded.

If making the guy jump in fright at her shrill cry counts as 'success'. Yugi man looked around, disoriented, before settling his look at her form. "W-wh… what?" He asked her, as Rin blinked at his question.

 _'Are you seriously asking a baby that kind of question right now? Also, I'm pretty stupid for not thinking this earlier but… how the hell am I supposed to tell him that I need to take a shit?!'_

 _'...I am such a dumbass.'_

And thus Rin cried loudly, overwhelmed by the amount of pent up frustration she dealt with earlier. She also shat herself in the process of doing so. Skeletor man is panicking (again), at a loss of what to do.

 _What a dysfunctional family they are._

* * *

Sai is crying, and Toshinori Yagi has no legit idea what to do. Currently, his only reassurance that he can live- _no,_ survive in a situation like this for years is that because _he's fucking All Might,_ and everyone knows that All Might _doesn't_ give up that easily.

But he's not All Might right now, no. Right now, he's just Toshinori Yagi, an ordinary man who doesn't know _jack shit_ about taking care of a live human baby. Still, he won't give up on little Sai.

Yagi sighed, running a hand through his shaggy blonde hair, glancing at the still crying baby. Honestly, he just wants to join her in crying because he's just _really_ exhausted from all the hero work he's done in the past few weeks.

But _no_. Babies apparently _do not_ give a fuck if you're busy or not because they need constant attention. Yagi himself learned that the hard way.

He picked the baby up- albeit hesitantly since his last experience in baby holding did not go so well -and was immediately assaulted by the smell of a dirty diaper.

 _No wonder the baby was crying so much, Yagi. **She needs a diaper change.**_

All Might is not cut out for nursing a baby. _At all._

 _God, and he's supposed to endure years of these things._

* * *

AN: i am stupid for making this si bye-


	2. Bambino

AN: im back since there's positive feedback yeet-

EDIT: whoopdewoops i made a continuity error due to lack of research and forgetfulness so ill be making a few changes because if i dont change it there's gonna be a giant gaping plot hole in my story. kudos to the guys who noticed the mistake pls kill me-

* * *

"Y-yag-gi."

"…What?"

Yagi stared in shock at the six month old baby pointing her (middle) finger at him. _'… Are infants supposed to talk at this age? And no, Yagi. Whatever you're thinking, she is **not** flipping you off.'_

"E-eat. Hungry."

He blinked, before picking her up and bringing her to the kitchen. "Well then, let's get you some milk, alright?" He said, feeling slightly proud at the feat Sai had been able to achieve. "After that, let's go to the park! I heard there's a new playground built there." He said out loud, regardless of the fact that the kid couldn't understand her.

As Yagi fed Sai with the bottled milk, he couldn't help but wonder if this is what it's actually like to have a child.

If so, then he doesn't think that he should have one. _Ever._

* * *

Yagi's face is kinda funny whenever Sai- Rin finally learned her new name after hearing it being said by the man thousands of times - (un)intentionally gives him the middle finger.

 _'Honestly though, with how **batshit insane** this new place is, I don't think I even have **enough** fucks to give anymore.'_ Sai thought with a shudder, thinking about her last encounter with the outside world. _'Seriously, one simply **cannot** have that many fricking legs.'_

In a span of six months, she managed to fuck herself up- which is a new record by the way -just by saying a bunch of words no six month old baby should be able to understand, _let alone speak._ She stopped cold, sweating nervously under Yagi's scrutinizing gaze as the skinny man picked her up and brought her to the kitchen.

Good thing the guy's inexperienced when it comes to babies, or else he would've been suspicious of her by now, _or worse_ , send her to a hospital for a _check-up_.

He said some things in Japanese that she couldn't quite understand, although she heard the phrase _'let's go'_ being uttered.

 _'Damn it, are we going outside again? Ugh.'_

A thought suddenly struck Sai, as she noticed something regarding Yagi's... appearance.

 _'Why...does his eyes look like that? Like... they're so... hollow. I mean, I could still see his pupils but...'_

It's just... sunken. And his eye bags certainly didn't make it look any better. Also, his eyebrows. _Where are they._

She froze when Yagi suddenly looked at her, as she unknowingly babbled out her thoughts. She was sure it was just gibberish though, since she still has limited vocabulary.

…Yagi did not regard her action as suspicious, in which she isn't sure whether it's a good thing or not.

Probably the latter, considering the circumstances.

* * *

As Yagi gently put Sai down on the grass when they arrived in the park, he noticed that she likes to crawl. _A lot._

At first, she just sat there with him, looking around her surroundings with an impassive stare. Then, she starts to roll around on her stomach while attempting to go on all fours. When she succeeded, she just wandered around the area, with Yagi to follow and observe her.

 _'Cute.'_ He thought with a small grin, as he watched Sai pick up a small stick and draw some squiggles on the ground. _'She's artistic too. Just like her mother.'_

As he sat next to her while watching her doodle, a middle aged woman with another baby came up to them, looking rather enthusiastic. "Oh my, what an adorable child! Is she yours?" She chirped.

 _'Well, she's definitely not wrong about Sai being cute, but her being my daughter? Nah.'_ Yagi thought, yet still nodded as he didn't bother to correct the woman.

Sai looked at her curiously, as if trying to assess her. She then crawled over to him and held up her hands, as if asking him to pick her up. "Up."

Yagi smiled slightly, standing up while carrying her in the process. "C'mon now Sai, let's-"

"Oh, her name is Sai? Such a cute name!" The woman giggled, as Yagi sweatdropped at her cheerfulness.

 _'Oh, like you're one to talk, **All Might**.'_

Still, when is the woman going to leave them alone? Oh fuck, she's looking at Sai again. "Who's the cute little baby? You are!" She cooed, as Yagi sighed quietly.

This is going to be a _very_ long day.

* * *

 _'Crap.'_

It's Sai's first birthday, and Yagi doesn't know what to do. And to top that, he was also called in to do hero work. In Sai's _first_ ever birthday.

 _'What to do, what to do…?'_ He frantically thought , glancing at the tot and at the door back and forth, contemplating his priorities. _'Ugh, I can't leave her here… But I don't know anyone who's competent enough to look after her… The others are also busy with their work…'_

He sat down on the couch, running a hand through his hair. He couldn't think of anything at all. And it's Sai's _birthday_! He can't just leave her on such a special day!

But then there's also hero work. He also can't just leave the people who might need his help alone.

'Yet…' Yagi can't help but thought. "…Can a hero be at least be selfish for once…?" He said out loud, before punching himself (which was a bad idea honestly since he was still in his skinny form and punching himself in that form is pretty useless if not inconvenient) for thinking such things.

 _'Goddamnit Yagi, get your priorities straight! **You're All Might, Symbol of fuckin' Peace!** You can't just abandon people in need like that!'_

He sighed (he's been doing it a _lot_ lately now) as he gazed at Sai with a soft look.

She was sitting on her crib, glancing around at the small steamers and balloons that say 'Happy Birthday' with slight interest.

Yagi frowned; if only there was a place where you can leave babies- **wait.**

He smiled, as he finally thought of a solution.

* * *

 _'I hate this.'_ Sai thought with a scowl, as she was stuck playing on the daycare with some obnoxious pricks. _'I really hate this.'_

 _'I can't believe he left me here on my birthday!'_

Seriously, can't the guy at least reconsider her feelings?! Like, okay, a normal baby might not be affected by this but still! It's her fucking special day.

 ** _THERE'S NOT EVEN A SINGLE SLICE OF CAKE!_**

Yagi better make up to her for _this_ shit.

And so here she is, a once dignified adult- _teenager,_ reduced to a mere snot nosed brat surrounded by even snottier brats. Why did this happen, some wondered.

Sai herself doesn't know.

"UGH- **SHUT UP**!" Sai yelled to a group of toddlers, who just wouldn't stop babbling nonsense to each other. God, what fucking headaches.

Everyone suddenly stopped whatever they're doing.

 _'Oh thank god they shut up-'_

 ** _HOLY- FUCK THEY'RE COMING AT HER ABORT ABORT ABORT-_**

" **AAAAAAAAAAAA-** " Sai screeched as she was assaulted by a mob of crawling menaces covered in drool before her scream became muffled by said menaces' blubbering.

It was nice having a second life. Actually no, not really. _Fuck this shit._

Sai did _not_ enjoy her first birthday at all.

* * *

When Yagi picked Sai up from the daycare, he did not expect her to immediately cry loudly.

He halted suddenly, before looking down at the wailing kid in distraught. _'Wh-what?!'_ He thought frantically, as some bystanders stopped by and looked at him disapprovingly.

"Sh, _ssh_." Yagi hushed her, as he walked home as fast as his skinny legs could drag him. "C'mon now, please be quiet." He pleaded at her, which was pretty pathetic to be honest.

Oh god, to think that _All Might_ asked for mercy at a mere _child_. _Symbol of Peace,_ his ass.

Goddamit, he knew he should've _at least_ asked Chiyo-san or Tsukauchi-san to entertain her.

As they finally arrived at the flat, Sai immediately ceased crying. Then giggled madly.

 _'What,'_ Yagi thought with a deadpan. _'Are you shitting me right now.'_ He thought, giving Sai a blank look.

 ** _What a mischievous brat._**

"Well, since you embarrassed me in public today, I suppose that means you're smart enough to know it's your birthday, huh?" He asked her, as she kept giggling at his misfortune. "Tsk. What a cheeky brat." He muttered.

Sai suddenly clapped, before reaching for something behind his back. "Oh, you want cake, huh?" He said, as he walked to wards the object in question. "Alright, alright. I'll give you a small slice. Geez." He mumbled, as the infant kept wiggling out of his grasp to reach the cake.

"Da!" Sai babbled, as Yagi set her down the couch to get a slice. "Cake!" She shouted, as Yagi laughed at her excited nature.

* * *

It was just the two of them on her special day, but it's fine. They have each other. For Sai, that's the _best_ gift she could ever ask for.

 _There's also cake, too, so all is good._

* * *

AN: seems like sai's bein a little shit lol also dad might having issues is the funniest thing to write ever haha


	3. Dad (Might) Issues

AN: yeet yeet im back- exams is hell- kill me- also pls check out the second chap. i made changes-

* * *

As soon as Sai turned one year old, Yagi deemed her responsible (pft) and intelligent enough to leave her in the day care.

Sai herself doesn't know why he keeps doing that. _'Maybe he's just really busy at work, whatever his work is.'_

She's totally not scared that Yagi seems to be distancing himself from her day by day and that she rarely sees him anymore. _Totally not._

She glowered at a particular toddler that came up to her, slightly annoyed that the brat found out about her secret spot; the corner just beside a giant doll house. "Ge' out me swa'hp!" She hissed, as the spawn of satan merely giggled at her (angry) statement.

'Y'know, it would've been better if he just left me alone in our apartment.' Sai thought, sulking as the toddler kept pestering her about some weird toy.

"VROOM!" He exclaimed, waving around some kind of… action figure as Sai desperately tried to keep her calm. "Hero! Gyah!" He cried out a series of words, before standing up (albeit shakily) and toddling around while waving (read: showing off) his toy to other kids.

 _'Yo, what the fuck?'_ Sai thought with a bewildered look, just noticing that the kid had _exhaust pipes_ coming out of his calves, kind of like an engine. _'I think this just solidifies my decision into not giving a shit about this world's logic anymore.'_

To whoever god that made this bootleg version of the marvel universe, dude, _what the hell_ are you on?

Good lord, she hopes that she won't get any of those freaky mutations. Just looking at one is already enough.

* * *

Yagi felt bad for leaving Sai in the day care every single day. He _really_ did.

 _'Don't worry about her, Yagi…'_ He reassured himself, jumping from roof to roof in his other form while looking for any kind of trouble. _'…She probably already made friends there. Yeah._ '

He suddenly stopped at an abandoned building's rooftop, before slowly transforming back into his skinny body. "It was just a year ago, too…" He mumbled, feeling melancholy all of a sudden.

 _Too_ much happened just last year.

His friend being left by her scumbag of a boyfriend.

Sai being born.

Sai's mother dying.

It was just… _too much for him to handle._

But then… Seeing Sai smile, it just reminded him too much of her. And it made him both overjoyed and upset.

That's probably one of the reasons why he's distancing himself from the baby right now, among other things. He just couldn't bear being seeing a face that's just so familiar yet not.

A bunch of screams suddenly pierced through the air, snapping him out of his depressing thoughts. 'Looks like I'm needed again.' He thought with a grin, slowly transforming back into his other form.

 **"Do not worry, for I am here!"**

* * *

"Thank." Sai mumbled quietly, as the engine kid kept her company while she was bored. _'But seriously though, the fuck is up with him and heroes?! He just wouldn't stop talking about them!'_

Honestly! It's like there are real live superheroes here! Which obviously is stupid because… come on! _Heroes?!_ Don't make her laugh! As if there's someone who's selfless _enough_ to sacrifice their life for others without anything in return!

She watched as Tenya (or at least that's what she heard when his brother called out to him) waddled towards his older brother happily, sighing deeply as Yagi hadn't picked her up yet.

 _'Maybe he's forgotten about me.'_ Sai joked to herself with a wry grin, as she watched children being picked up by their own family. _'Okay, I think he really did forget.'_ She thought, her grin slowly diminishing.

 _Great parenting skills, **Yagi**._ Surely with that, Sai would be able to grow up with proper care and attention.

Oh, who was she kidding? Even the workers are looking at her with pity. And she doesn't need pity. If anything, they should be pitied because of their stupid- _they- she doesn't need to be pitied, **okay?!**_

Sai sniffled, attempting to hold in her angry tears as she wobbly walked towards the glass fence separating her from the baggage counter thing, pressing her face against it.

 _'Tsk, whatever. I should've expected that this is just gonna be a repeat of my past life.'_ She thought, as the door open and a man in an overcoat entered.

She heard him talk to the lady who took in charge of the day care, something about a child or whatever. It's probably just another kid being picked up, seeing as there's still a few left with her at the play pen.

"Hey, Sai." She looked up in shock, hearing the man say her name. "I'll be picking you up today, seeing as Toshinori-san isn't- is too busy to." He smiled, as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Who're you?" Sai deadpanned, as he blinked at her question. "You're- su'picio'." She said, as he laughed at her ability to butcher the Japanese language (or, well, she thinks he's laughing at that).

He picked her up, as she struggled quite a bit. "I'm a friend of your dad- I mean, Toshinori-san," He explained, as Sai stopped fussing to listen to his excuse to kidnap her. "He asked me for a favor to pick you up from day care." He said, which, honestly raised more questions rather than answered them.

Sai sighed, already tired with everything. _'Ugh, whatever. I'll take his bait. S'not like it even matters anymore, anyway.'_ She relaxed from his grip, yawning as she snuggled for warmth against his coat.

* * *

Naomasa Tsukauchi is _pretty_ sure Sai is a genius, just by looking at her blank yet scrutinizing stare.

He's _also_ sure that she's sulking right now, probably because of Toshinori's distant treatment to her.

Tsukauchi observed her while she was asleep, noticing that she looked a lot like her mother. And when he meant that, he meant that the kid looks like a carbon copy of her. He could now slightly understand why Toshinori looked so melancholy whenever Tsukauchi brought Sai up as a conversation topic.

…The question Tsukauchi kept asking himself though, is 'Why did Yagi take her in despite the responsibilities he shouldered?'

 _Although…_

Tsukauchi looked back at the now awake child staring at him with curiosity, deducing that maybe, maybe it was because Sai's mother was always there for Yagi. Maybe he was just returning the favor.

Not only that, but Tsukauchi didn't overlook the fact that she and Yagi used to have some kind of relationship. Maybe it was because of that?

Well, whatever Toshinori's reason is, Tsukauchi trusts the number one hero's judgement.

* * *

He knows where Sai and Yagi live, so that answers some questions. Still she couldn't help but still be suspicious of him. Who knows, maybe he's actually a stalker?

Oh look, it's Yagi sulking on the couch. Sai wondered what made him so depressed like that.

She tried to ignore the fact that Yagi is looking at anywhere but her because w-why would he do that? Like, it's not like she's the cause of his state right now, right?

For fucks sake, why are people so terrible when it comes to conveying emotions? It's like watching weird-ass pictures on the internet without any context; you literally have no idea what the fuck is going on.

It just- it pisses her off as much as it amuses her, y'know!

" **Hnnnh**." Sai grumbled, trying to get out of the overcoat clad man's arms while reaching out to Yagi. " **PA!** " She accidentally blurted out, as the skinny man looked at her in shock.

He looked startled as Sai kept reaching out to him, until Tsukauchi finally gave the whining child to the man. "You're welcome." He said, nodding to Yagi as the blonde nodded back to him, with Sai to watch the exchange in Yagi's arms.

 _'Ah, so they really are buddies. Good to know that I haven't met a single criminal at my second life **yet**.'_ Sai thought sardonically, slightly reminiscing about her… _interesting_ encounters during her past life as she watched Yagi's friend leave the flat.

Why the _fuck_ is Yagi avoiding her gaze though? Seriously, she's getting annoyed by that a lot already. _She's had enough of him treating her like she's non-existent!_

Sai bit his hand. It was slightly effective too, seeing as she just started teething last month, just before her birthday. Yagi cried out in pain, removing her small canines from his hand, which now sported a tiny red bite mark.

"What'd you do that for?" Yagi asked her, as she pouted and looked away from him. "…Are you angry?" At that question, Sai gave a small whine of agreement.

Yagi blinked. "Oh." He uttered, as Sai waited for his response. "…I'm sorry." He muttered, softly petting her black hair as Sai sighed in content at his gentle touch.

 _'That's right. Don't ignore me from now on, or else I'll probably do something worse than just biting your hand.'_ Sai smugly thought, snuggling for warmth against Yagi, as they both passed out together in the couch.

* * *

OMAKE - Teething (it's terrible)

"Sai, please stop biting me- ow!"

"... **HnnnNH**."

"Are you sure you're okay...?"

".. **.BITE**."

"Wait, wha- _OW!_ Stop it!"

" **ASDFGHJKL-** "

"I feel need to get you to a doctor. A psychiatrist, to be exact."

"..."

* * *

AN: angst angst angst- im sorry this was terrible- the exams fried my brain


	4. Garden of Children

AN: hey hey hey im back yo- yeet congrats on having **1k reads** wow-

* * *

Kindergarten was… _nice._

Like, the teachers are nice ( _condescending_ ) and her classmates are friendly ( _nosy piece of-_ ).

But anyway. **Kindergarten.**

Sai _hates_ it. Not because the people there are annoying, no.

It's because her classmates ( ** _ew_** ) mistake her as a 'girly' kid who just likes 'girly' things.

 _'Oh my god, this is like elementary days again.'_ Sai thought with disdain, as some girls ( ** _eww_** ) grabbed her hand ( ** _euGH_** ) and tried to pull her towards their group to join their tea parties or whatever. _'Hhhhn why must kids be this annoying-'_

She attempted to politely decline the (forced) invitation, so a bit of- ah, _violence_ had to be done to prove her point. Nothing big, really. After all, she can't just hurt little girls. So she just... gave some minor threats.

The group didn't invite (read: force) her to another 'tea party' after that.

But the boys. _Don't even get her started on the boys._

Oh god, they're just so… _gross._ Like, what sane person would _willingly_ eat grass and some probably poisonous bugs?! Not only that, but they kept pushing the everyone- including her -into the muddy parts of the field (why it exists is beyond her comprehension) whenever they get the chance, which not only is troublesome, but also gets her clothes all dirty!

She shuddered, suddenly remembering the first day. She literally had to expose (actually she just introduced herself but it's basically the same thing) herself to everyone. _To strangers._

 _'I want to die.'_ Sai though blankly, as children, some crying, screaming and/or laughing at something stupid, surrounded her while she curled up in the corner.

Those kind of places became one of her favorite spots, to be honest.

"Are you okay?" Someone asked her, as she looked up and saw the only kid- aside from her -with higher intellect (but still stupid) looking down at her, his hand for her to take. "You look... lonely."

She twitched. _'Oh hell naw. I ain't a loner, kid.'_

She scoffed, swatting his hand away as she stood up and dusted herself off, attempting to look extremely annoyed.

But, no. Kids, specifically kindergartners, are apparently ignorant to people's moods. So if the kid was oblivious to her irritation; it's okay, she's cool with it.

 ** _BUT THEN HE MISTAKED IT AS SOMETHING AKIN TO SADNESS._**

 _What the fuck._

"O-oh!" He stuttered, "I'm really sorry! Do you want to play with me?" He asked, as Sai stood there looking puzzled for a second.

She sighed, rolling her eyes. "You know what? Sure, whatever." She said, shrugging. She's tired, lonely ( _there!_ Sai admits it) and she wants to throw away all of her conflicting thoughts already.

The boy grinned, doing weird hand gestures while at it. "G-great! Let's play tag then!" He exclaimed, as Sai nodded in agreement.

 _Eh_ , it's not that bad of a game.

* * *

Tenya Iida is having _so_ much fun while playing with the spiky haired girl named Sai.

She is so smart, _kind of like one of those grown ups!_ She's really mature and calm too, as he first noticed her on the first day of kindergarten, observing that she didn't cry, unlike the other children.

She looks neat too, so that's a plus.

Tenya wants to be her friend.

And so here they are, chasing each other on the field just beside their classroom.

He laughed heartily, as Sai attempted to tag him, but failing to, as he was using his quirk- albeit clumsily as he was still too inexperienced to use it -to run faster than her.

She flopped down on the grass, exhausted as Tenya slowed down. He was suddenly surrounded by his other classmates and teachers, cheering and clapping for him.

"Wow, that was so cool!"

"Do it again! _Do it again!_ "

"He was like **'Zoom!'** like really fast!"

It was nice being praised by other people, especially if the praise was about how great his quirk is.

"Wow, that's a really good quirk you have there, Tenya-kun!" His teacher praised him, as he looked up at her, red-faced but happy. "You'll make a great hero someday, that's for sure!" That statement struck a chord to him.

 _'Be a hero...? Like, what nii-san is going to be?'_

Tenya grinned from ear to ear, ecstatic about the thought of him becoming like his role model. It sounds _too_ good to be true for him!

"Thank you, sensei!" He said to his teacher, bowing. "I'll work hard to be a hero!" He exclaimed, doing hand gestures as his teachers encouraged him to do his best.

It was too bad that he didn't notice that Sai was looking at him in confusion and incredulity.

* * *

What the hell? _Why are the teachers encouraging him to accomplish an impossible dream?!_

Like, she gets that it's good to encourage a kid to do whatever they want in life, but this?! They're just giving the poor soul some false hope!

And here she thought that adults were supposed to be more insightful than children.

Nonetheless, she didn't stop them, as she saw that the brat was too hung up about 'wanting to be a hero' and would probably not listen to her even if she did explain it rationally.

She flinched, looking away as the teacher noticed her staring at them. "Oh, Sai-chan! Do you want to join us?" Oh great, now she's calling her.

Sai jogged up to them, her spiky hair looking even more dishelved than before as Tenya stared at her in happiness. "Did you hear that, Sai? They said I can be a hero!" He said in excitement, as she just nodded silently.

Eh, he'll probably grow out if his 'impossible dream' phase, like most kids will.

"...about you, Sai? What do you want to be when you grow up?" She blinked, staring at her teacher as she asked Sai the question.

 _Eh?_

"Uh..." Sai uttered dumbly, as her teacher and classmates expectantly waited for her answer.

...To be honest? She really just wants to have job that pays just enough for her to buy food for herself.

(Part of her whispered that she actually wanted to be a famous artist like Da Vinci and Gogh. She immediately squashed that silly little idea as soon as it surfaced.)

But then she just couldn't voice out her (realistic) dreams like that because honestly, what kind of child thinks like that? Only a middle aged man having an existential crisis (which is what her previous life's brother was, by the way) would have that kind of dream.

Actually, it's _not_ even a dream. It's more of a survival plan if she's being honest with herself.

But still, she couldn't say all of that in front of her peers who looked so excited about hearing some random brat's dreams. So what she did was _simple_.

She threw away whatever dignity she has left- if there even was any -and yelled out quite obnoxiously, **"I wanna be a hero too!"** with a matching fist pump.

Sai heard the sound of something breaking, and thought that, _'Yeah, that was probably my brain after losing a bunch of cells.'_

* * *

Sai's teacher is worried for her, and she doesn't know why. Or, perhaps 'worried' is the wrong term. It's more of a _suspicion,_ really.

 _So yeah._ Sai's teacher is suspicious of her.

Maybe it's because of the strange glint that reflects the child's eyes whenever she thinks nobody's looking.

Or maybe it was because she doesn't act like any other child. Because honestly, what kind of child _refuses_ to play during break time? What kind of child prefers a _book_ over a toy?

Sure, there were other kids who acted mature, but it was mostly because they were influenced by someone, like, say, their family.

...Toshinori-san doesn't look _too_ mature, in her opinion. He looks like a tall child, really. _A tall skinny child._

But back to the topic in question.

Sai's teacher thinks it's either of the two that worries her, but right now, she's pretty sure it's both.

She looked at the child, who at the moment was playing with Tenya-kun in the field. Sai seemed to be enjoying herself, like any other normal child.

Huh, maybe she was just hallucinating, and the child wasn't actually abnormal.

Still, she couldn't shake the thought off about the kid being unnatural. There was just something... _off_ about her.

She expectantly looked at Sai, as the spiky haired kid obnoxiously declared that she wanted to be a hero when she grew up.

Sai's teacher internally heaved out a sigh of relief, as she thought that she really was just imagining the child as a genius.

 _After all, child prodigy is a curse, as there are a lot of terrible possibilities for them._

* * *

AN: mhm yes i love being smothered in positive reviews- also sorry no appearance of dad might today, he's pretty busy doing work- if you know what i mean ;)


	5. Confrontation and Revelation

AN: im back and im sicc help me-

* * *

He's doing a pretty great job at hiding the hero community from Sai, Yagi thinks as he picked up the child from Kindergarten.

He watched the kid walking beside him, as he noticed that she looked deep in thought.

 _"You know..."_ She said after a few minutes of silence, "... I just noticed something." She remarked, as she looked at something at the distance, with Yagi following her gaze.

"What's up with people's obsession with heroes?" She asked him offhandedly, as he coughed not-so-discreetly at her question. " _Okay_ , you're acting pretty weird." She stated, her dull blue eyes boring into his bright blue ones.

Yagi gulped, not prepared for the sudden question fired at him. "Uh..." How exactly is he supposed to explain the concept of heroes and villains to her again?

Oh, right. He _isn't_ supposed to. He actually meant to hide it from her, not the other way around.

So let's just say that Yagi's caught off guard for now. And he has to improvise, _fast._

"Well," He started, as he finally thought of a decent excuse. "M-maybe people just got caught up too much in their comics?" He said, but it's more like he was asking for confirmation, really.

He also internally cursed himself for stuttering, as that would make his- already unbelievable -lie more obvious.

Sai stared at him as if he had grown a second head.

 _...Did- did he say something weird? **Was there something on his face?**_

This situation felt _oddly_ familiar.

Sai finally broke the (awkward) silence, already having enough of it. "Uh, are you okay...?" She slowly asked him, before muttering silently under her breath, "I feel like you just lost a few digits off your IQ."

Yagi did _not_ want to know how the kid somehow knows what an IQ is. Still, she had a point. He was indeed not okay with her question.

She suddenly made a disturbed noise, then pointed at something as he looked towards the object in question. "Okay, what the-" She cut herself off, frowning. "...What is that thing...?"

He narrowed his eyes at the disgusting sight, before crouching down at Sai's eye level, grabbing both of her shoulders firmly, yet gently. "I trust that you can go home now by yourself now," Yagi said, as she blinked in confusion. "I know that it's a bit too much to ask you this, but... can you go home just by yourself?" He requested, as Sai stared at him before nodding slowly.

He heaved out a sigh of relief. "Thank you." He really is. "... I'll catch up with you later, okay?" He said, before shooing her away from the scene gently. "Now go. And be careful!" He said, as she waved at him one last time before walking towards the direction of their home.

 _Well then, now that there's no more distractions..._

Toshinori Yagi transformed into All Might.

 _...He can now do his job without anything getting in his way._

 **"Fear not, citizens! Why? Because I am here!"**

 _(Well, not that Sai-chan is a liability, but you get what he means.)_

* * *

 _Oh hell naw._ She ain't leaving his stick figured ass all by himself. _ **Nope.**_

Yagi is hiding something, and Sai is suspicious.

Suspicious enough that she's _willing_ to disobey him if it meant finding out what he's hiding from her.

Yeah, right. As if Sai's gonna be surprised at his little secret. She got _skewered_ by a fucking _steel beam_ and went through _reincarnation_. She thinks that it's surprising enough.

So here she is, perched up on a giant tree that was conveniently in front of the scene of the crime, enough for her to easily climb up and spy at the blue eyed man while he did... _something._

Sai sat on one of the thick branches, hiding through a bunch of leaves as she gets to witness a live crime in action.

...Wait, did that guy seriously just cut himself in half? _What the fuck?_

She blinked, not believing at what she just saw. It was almost like it came out of a horror scene or something. But then there wasn't any blood, so... maybe it's the guy's quirk?

Eh, she's not... gonna dwell _too_ much on that. Just the concept of having freaky powers is weird enough.

But then some buff idiot showed up. Okay, shit just got weirder. Why the hell is he wearing some tight ass shirt?

Also, Sai couldn't help but think how awfully similar the guy looks like Yagi. But on steroids.

Speaking of the skinny man, where the _fuck_ did Yagi went off to?

Anyway, the muscular dude was also yelling something about not worrying as he's already there, and... What? Why would people care if some bara dude just bursts outta nowhere? Honestly, if people would _actually_ calm down because of his reassuring (not really) words, Sai will _seriously_ consider jumping off a cliff just because she can't bear the _sheer stupidity_.

...Everyone yelled, including the criminal who sliced himself in half. But the crowd didn't yell because they panicked, no. They cheered for the guy who literally just bursted out of nowhere.

 _What._

(At that moment, Sai _actually_ considered jumpng of a cliff.)

The people, who were previously wailing hopelessly for help, are now cheering for the blonde man, chanting something along the lines of 'All Might.'

 _'What a weird situation I'm watching right now.'_ Sai thought with an impassive stare. _'And I'm not just talking about the guy who showed his quirk earlier.'_

 _What is this._

Sai watched the man in interest, as he quickly apprehended the violent dude with... a single punch. Well, he also may have (kind of) produced a large gust of wind (though she's pretty sure that was unintentional) but that's not important because-

 **"Texas Smash!"**

-humans, _even_ if they have quirks, are _not_ supposed to make air pressure that high and fast.

No, that just literally goes against all of the natural laws. But then again... quirks have already completely destroyed her perception of reality _so yeah._

Sai thinks she needs to go to a mental hospital. Or probably jump off a cliff. Preferably both.

As she watched the whole thingmajig play out in front of her, she couldn't help but piece the clues that were oh-so-obviouly laid out to her together.

 _Oh, so heroes do exist. And they literally look like a comic book puked them out._

Now that she's thought about it... _Does that mean stereotypical villains exist too-?_

By the way, about Yagi? Sai hasn't found him yet, and she's already getting worried about him, despite the man annoying her sometimes.

She hoped he wasn't dragged into the crossfire. She _really_ did.

* * *

Yagi _should've_ expected Sai to not follow his instruction. Or _at least_ check on her to see if she did follow his instruction.

But no, he was too caught up- _too eager,_ his mind traitorously whispers -on catching the villain rampaging on the street to even worry if she did comply to his request.

So in the end, it could be said that it was still partly Yagi's fault.

Still, what is Sai even _thinking_ , recklessly climbing up a tree just to watch a villain wreck havoc?

"It was interesting," She said. " And I was worried about you," She mumbled quietly, thinking that he couldn't hear her.

He... doesn't know how to respond to _that_ , as he has never encountered that kind of situation before. Who would be worried about _All Might_ , anyway?

After all, the number one hero is supposed to be the one worried, _not the other way around._

"Stop staring at me like that." Sai deadpanned, as he blinked, before momentarily looking away from her. "Oh, yeah. Where were you a while ago?" She asked, as Yagi tried to thought up of an excuse.

He... _unfortunately_ could not think of anything right now.

For a while, it was silent, before Sai spoke again, "Well?" She impatiently said.

He sighed, running a hand through his messy hair. "If you must know..." He muttered, as the kid raised an eyebrow.

"I..."

* * *

"I..." Yagi started, "I'm... a hero."

Sai blinked.

 _Say what-?_

"I'm a very... well-known hero, who goes by the the alias **'All Might'**." He tried elaborated further, but apparently Sai's mind was short circuiting at the moment.

...Well, that was... that actually answered _some_ of her questions and cleared up the suspicions about him.

Still, she was not expecting that _at all._

Because honestly, who the fuck would suspect a _literal stick figure_ of being a hero?

"Wait, slow down." Sai held up a hand while pinching her nose with the other. "So, you're implying that you..." She gestured to his not so idealistic body, "...were the perso- _hero_ that defeated the villain a while ago." She remarked, her voice indicating that she was feeling slightly surprised.

Yagi slowly nodded after a few sentence, confirming her previous statement.

Sai pursed her lips, before turning her back from him and walked to the direction of their apartment, all the while shaking her head. "Sorry, I'm kind of in shock right now... I'll probably react later." She said, answering Yagi's silent question.

 _'I'll probably react violently later and arguments would also be likely to happen.'_ She thought grimly, as Yagi finally caught up to her. _'Ah, whatever. I'll... burn that bridge when I get to it.'_ Sai sardonically thought, as she and Yagi walked home together, the atmosphere around them tense.

* * *

AN: lol the underwhelmed bit legit happened in real life tho-


	6. Judgement

AN: lol why was this chapter hard to write- im prolly scared of the newly introduced character being ooc wops-

* * *

As soon as they arrived at the flat, Sai immediately started pacing around the living room frantically, all the while muttering to herself.

Yagi has never seen her _this_ shook up before.

 _She's probably mad at him, and will probably give him the silent treatment. Or probably be intimidated. **Worst case scenario, she runs away from home-**_

The number one hero _immediately_ halted that train of thought, in fear of jinxing himself.

She suddenly stopped to stare at him blankly, before uttering, "So all this time you had a quirk, when I thought you hadn't."

He sighed, mentally preparing himself from the backlash. " _Yes,_ and I'm sorry for-" Sai cut him off by waving her hand.

"Oh, no. I totally understand your reason, even though said reason does not make sense." She said, rolling her eyes. "But of course, I still have some questions about this..." She gestured to him, "... _hero thing_."

Yagi blinked. That was it? She... _isn't_ mad?

 _Well, that certainly clears things up._

Yagi's pretty glad that she's calm about this. He's not really sure what he'd do if Sai reacted violently instead.

"Um, okay then." He muttered, before patting the spot beside him as he sat on the couch. "You might need to sit down." He said, as she sat next to him, her blue eyes glinting in curiosity and anticipation. "This is gonna be a long story..."

* * *

As Yagi finally finished his long ass tale, Sai merely blinked at him with a poker face.

It... sounds like a comic book plot. _A really cliche comic book plot._

"One for All; so that's your quirk, huh?" Sai asked him blankly, as he nodded. "Well, I only have one thing to say, really." She said, letting out a snort of amusement.

She pointed at him. "Your quirk surpasses every quirk. It's basically a deus ex machina in itself."

Not only did it help him conveniently as he was previously quirkless, but it also ( _conveniently_ ) helped other people.

To her surprise, he laughed. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." Yagi, scratched the back of his head sheepishly, which Sai found slightly adorable. "After all, it did gave me a quirk, and helped save lives."

"Ah," She muttered, as they both sat there on the couch together for a while.

Yagi... he's a good guy, and Sai is _certain_ of that. However...

"Why did you become a hero, anyway?" She asked him, fiddling with her thumbs. "Were you... uh, forced to do it?"

He stared at her in surprise, as if not expecting the question. "Well, to be honest..." He answered in a low voice. "Someone... inspired me to be a hero."

Sai hummed, as she attempted to guess who was the special one, before a thought struck her. "...Was it my mom?"

Yagi sputtered, confirming her statement. "Wh-where did you g-get that idea?!" He stammered, blushing heavily as Sai snorted at his ridiculous reaction.

She shrugged, "I dunno, it was just a small hunch. I never said it was real." She looked up at him, narrowing her eyes. "Or was it?"

"..."

She smiled at him, before standing up and yawning. "Gah, whatever. Doesn't really matter what's your reason, as long as it has good moral standards."

Sai just found out about the hero society, and she still isn't quite sure what to make out of it. But as long as the world hasn't fucked itself up yet, then perhaps they aren't _that_ bad.

* * *

"Where are we? What are we doing here?" Sai asked Yagi, as they stood in front of an old building.

It was weekend, and Yagi has some investigations to do in Yamanashi Prefecture. And he can't just leave Sai all cooped up in their apartment. So he decided to bring her, and maybe find a person (whom he can trust) to take care of her.

Good news is, he knows someone who lives in that prefecture.

Bad news is, it's his former teacher whom he haven't seen in years as he was _too_ terrified of the man to even visit him.

Yagi is sure that he is going to regret his decision later. But then again it's too late to back up now.

"We're-" Yagi paused, correcting himself, "You're going to stay here, while I do my work." He said, as Sai blinked up at him.

The kid glanced at the building, before looking back up at him. "Are there any particular reasons as to why I can't come with you?" Sai deadpanned, before adding quickly, "Aside from the fact that it's probably dangerous?"

"Yes." He stated, which didn't really answer her question, before taking on his hero from after making sure no one was around their vicinity. "Alright then, I must go now. I'm almost late for my job." He quickly stated, ignoring Sai's look of incredulity and confusion.

She opened her mouth, as if attempting to speak, before closing it. Then she opened it again. "Are you... not gonna greet my babysitter?" She asked, crossing her arms. "You're just, gonna leave me here? Like that?"

"Well, I'm sure he'd know what's up as soon as he sees you..."

Sai raised an eyebrow at him. "You are doing a really good job as a parent, you know that?" She said, before turning back towards the building, not noticing Yagi's look of shock at being considered a parent.

Just the thought him _taking care_ of something that needs constant attention makes him both laugh and shudder. Honestly, he wasn't even _sure_ how Sai survived in the first place.

"Well, I'll best be off then!" And with that, he dashed off, leaving Sai (literally) in the dust.

* * *

Sai watched Yagi scamper off, feeling a little betrayal. Just a little. She feels like... _she's been abandoned._

Yeah, _that_ feeling.

Taking a deep breath, she dreadfully tread towards the door, slightly nervous on what shows on the other side. Sai carefully knocked on the door, waiting for the person inside to open it. As the door slowly creaked open, she mentally braced herself on whatever the fuck is inside the building. She made a small sound of surprise, as she noticed that nobody was present to open the door.

She warily took a step back. _This is getting creepy..._

 **"OH HELLO!"** Sai yelped in shock, as an old man suddenly popped out from... up in the ceiling. "Are you lost, kid?" He asked airily, jumping down from his upside down spot.

Sai's not really sure what to say at the moment, or if she should even talk at all. "Uhh..." She muttered instead, staring dumbly at the old man who's half as tall as her.

The old man chuckled, kneeling down to her eye level- curse her lower than average height -as she tilted her head in a puzzled manner. He mirrored her movements, before backing away from her. "Eh? Who are you?!" He exclaimed, as Sai uttered a small sound of confusion.

 _"What."_

"What?" The man asked her back, before doing the previous thing he did before. "Whoa! When did you get so young, Rin-chan?"

 _...How in the hell did he know her previous name?!_

Sai laughed nervously. "Um, I'm Sai, not Rin." She corrected the old man meekly, as he stared at her intently.

"...Who are you again?"

She twitched, smiling in annoyance. Okay then, she's pretty sure the man's fucking with her this time. "Are you serious right now." Sai deadpanned at him, as he kept staring at her, before laughing out loud.

"Heh, guess you really are Rin's brat." He muttered to himself, smirking as Sai looked at him in slight confusion. "Anyway, come on in, kid." He invited her inside, as she followed him and took a look around the inside. "I saw Toshinori left you here without any context."

Sai nodded, rolling her eyes at the thought of the _number one hero_ abandoning her. He'll regret his decision later, and if he didn't, well, Sai will make him regret it. "Yeah, he seems to fear you." She remarked dryly, as the old man raised his eyebrow in amusement.

"Smart observation there, kid." He grinned, as Sai shrugged lazily.

She plopped down on his red couch, laying down on her back as her stomach growled loudly. "Ah, I'm hungry." She drawled, her voice sounding like a childish whine. "Do you have food?" She asked the short man, as he rummaged the fridge. He pulled something out, at which she made a face at.

Er, that looks like it's been there for months. She voiced out her thoughts, in which he shrugged and threw away the rotten vegetables.

"That's all I have, brat." The old man said, as Sai silently groaned at the unpleasant nickname. "Let's just eat outside."

Sai clicked her tongue, standing up from her comfortable spot on the couch. "Whatever. As long as my stomach consumes something edible."

* * *

Gran Torino's immediate when he first met Sai was, _'Yeah, this kid's going places someday.'_

After all, it's not everyday you can see a natural prodigy. Even if said prodigy lacks drive at the moment.

"What do you think of Toshinori, kid?" He once asked her. Her answer was not what he expected to come from a kid.

Sai hummed. "Ah, the concept of whatever a 'true,'" She made air quotes at the word, "hero is supposed to be." She then shrugged casually, as if she couldn't care less. "I mean, I don't know the masses' opinion of what true heroism is, but I personally think it's nothing flashy at all. Undramatic, abrupt..."

Gran Torino prompted her to continue. "And...?"

"Nothing. Just, it's _not_ about _surpassing_ people, it's about _serving_ them." She said, and left it at that.

He didn't miss the fact that she completely avoided the question.

"...So I'm not really sure if I should judge him, when I haven't got to fully know his heroic persona yet." She suddenly added, at which he nodded in acknowledgement.

Hmm, definitely _far_ from what a normal child would say.

 _He and the brat would get along, **that's for sure.**_

* * *

AN: did i get his personality right hhnnh-


	7. Lighthearted Emotions

AN: ngl but iida is prolly the character i mostly relate to lmao- also holy shiteu **3k reads** alreadY?! thank you strong power-

* * *

Sai isn't showing signs of having any quirk, and Iida wonders _why._

"Don't worry about it," She said. "I don't really care if it shows up or not to be honest." She added.

Iida doesn't really know how to respond to her statement. After all, _what_ kind of person just brushes off their quirkless-ness? But well, it's not like Sai can get her quirk _just_ at the age of four; _maybe_ she's just a late bloomer?

"Why aren't you worried about being quirkless?" He asked her one day, while they were doing a small seat work their teachers assigned them to do by pair.

She just stared at him, raising an eyebrow. "Why would I?" She replied coolly, and then she quickly changed the subject, pointing at his handiwork. "You're coloring it the wrong way." She stated, before holding out her hand, "Give me that." She commanded, as he did so.

Iida watched her do wonders on his previously messy drawing, as she carefully added layers and layers of watercolor onto his paper. He observed her with intent curiosity as Sai finally finished his artwork, before letting out a breath of admiration. "Wow, that's _so_ cool!" He gushed, as Sai smirked, beaming with pride.

"Thanks. 'Snot that hard, to be honest," She said, before turning back to her (still) uncolored work, "Now, time to choose a palette..." She muttered, as Iida slightly felt bad for letting her do all the work for both of them.

"Uhm... _maybe_ you could use that color?" He said, pointing to a particular shade of blue, before pointing at another color. "...And maybe you could mix it with this one..." He added shyly, as Sai stared at him for a while, before hitting herself in the face.

Iida flinched, slightly surprised at her action. _'W-why did she do that?!'_ He thought frantically, as Sai mumbled something incoherent under her breath, before shaking her head. She grinned, patting his shoulder (she had to slightly raise her arm higher as he was a bit taller than average) and saying, "Wow, great pick! Thanks, man!"

Iida thinks he just discovered Sai's passion. And, he also thinks she's doing a _great_ job at expressing it.

* * *

Sai felt pretty stupid, as she accidentally exposed her (hidden) talent to Iida. Although she probably _couldn't_ blame herself for not holding back, as seeing the horribly painted artwork Iida somehow made can make any artist cringe at the _sheer..._

She sighed, as she walked home alone, thinking that Iida probably already told their teacher about how she painted over _his_ paper. Worse, he'd go whining over his parents about how she ruined _his_ hard work. Both things are already bad enough for her, what's the worse that could happen?

"I'm home," She called out, entering the apartment, as she caught a glimpse of Yagi doing... _things_ in the kitchen.

He popped out his head from the kitchen door, as she raised an eyebrow at his ridiculously messy face. "Why are you covered in paint?" She asked him, as he disappeared back to the kitchen before returning, but this time without the paint on his face. "Why do you look like that?" She asked again, as he merely grinned in his beefed up form, which, in her opinion, is unnecessary, as seeing that nobody is in need of any help right now.

"I have decided that we should spend more quality time with each other!" He exclaimed, all the while doing ludicrously dramatic poses. "We're going to the mall!" He said, as Sai tilted her head.

 _What_ brought this on about?

"Um, okay...?" She muttered, shrugging as she went to her room to change her clothes. _"...What a weirdo."_

* * *

Toshinori's not gonna lie to himself, he is pretty excited for the two of them to bond with each other with no interruptions whatsoever.

So here they are at the mall, as Sai pressed her face against the glass wall, admiring various things related to art. He stood next to her, asking, "You like those?"

Sai snapped her head to his direction, nodding furiously. **"Yes."** She firmly said, before pressing her face back to the glass wall. "I _need_ those in my life." She whispered, as Yagi shook his head fondly at her adorable action.

"Alright, alright." He gently pulled her away from the wall, as she pouted. "I'll buy it for you." He said, as her pout quickly changed into a grin. "Consider it a gift for doing well in school, okay?"

She nodded silently, grabbing his hand as he chuckled at her futile attempt at dragging him inside the art supplies store. "Okay, _okay._ Calm down, child."

As Yagi smiled softly at the sight of the child's ecstatic grin when she finally got a hold of her art supplies, he couldn't help but be painfully reminded of how _eerily_ similar she is to her mother, not only in their mutual interests, but also the fact that Sai's appearance is becoming more and more similar to her mother's as she grows up.

Ah, well. He'll treasure that smile. He would protect that smile. He'd do anything, just to see that smile.

* * *

Sai just got her first art materials- _her own art materials_ , she emphasized -in her second life, and she is elated! She could probably say her day is going great. She could even consider it her _best_ day ever (since she died).

Of course, being with Yagi just made it a whole lot better.

It's been a long time since she felt this upbeat. Her last memory of being genuinely happy was in her past life, when she saw her brother get accepted by the company he dreamed to work on. Aah, _memories._ She hopes the overgrown child is faring well without her. She _never_ really saw him as a melancholic kind of guy. In fact, he's always the one who's trying to find the good things during bad times, so Sai is pretty sure that he'll be _fine._

After all, that idiot already has a girlfriend to take care of him. And she was _not_ jealous. _Totally **not.**_

"To-chin, where are we going next?" Sai asked, swinging her arms happily as she skipped beside him. "Do you wanna eat?" She inquired, as Yagi hummed in confirmation.

He glanced at the giant clock on the center of the mall, before looking at her. "How about you?" He asked her, as she tilted her head questioningly. "Are you hungry?"

"Well, I-" She got gut off by her stomach grumbling in need of edible substances, "Yeah, I guess I am." She answered sheepishly, patting her stomach.

"Alright then, let's go find a restaurant."

"Mkay." Sai made a move to follow Yagi, but stopped as she saw a particular mop of dark blue hair.

Was that... _Iida?_

Sai looked at Yagi, then at Iida, contemplating on whether she should leave Yagi and approach Iida- who looked lost (literally _and_ figuratively) -to ask him what was wrong. She winced as the kid looked like he was about to cry; she had never liked crying children, and she didn't mean it in a bad way. She just... she thinks that it's better suited for children to smile. So she took a deep breath, and made up her mind.

She tugged at Yagi's shirt, pouting. "Can I go somewhere first, alone?" She asked, asking for permission. "I promise it'll be really quick." She added quickly at his inquisitive look.

Please say yes, _please say yes..._

"...Okay," The blue eyed man slowly said, as she grinned. "Where are you going, though? And why alone?" He asked, as she immediately thought up of an excuse.

Sai pointed to Iida. "I just wanna say **'hi'** to him." She said, "And aren't you supposed to go undercover?" She asked him, as he raised an eyebrow. "Well, I figured that the less strangers you meet, the less chance they'll recognize you?" Sai stated, ending her sentence with a slightly unsure tone.

Yagi went silent, but then sighed. "Fine. I guess you're responsible enough to be left alone for a while." He said, ruffling Sai's hair slightly. "I'll wait for you at that-" He pointed at a rather exquisite restaurant in the corner, "-restaurant, and if you encounter _any_ trouble," Yagi's face suddenly became serious, causing Sai to unconsciously mimic it too, "Shout for help immediately."

Sai saluted him, as he grinned and patted her shoulder. "Okay. I'll try to not get in trouble." Keyword, _'tried'_. But it's not like he'll notice a difference.

As she watched him disappeared off into the distance, she ran towards Iida whilst trying to get his attention. "Iida-kun! **Oi!** "

* * *

AN: ahahahah im gonna have to make this into a two parter cuz im evil lol-


	8. Help (No, Seriously)

AN: i need help. also kid iida is an adorable iida fite me h8ers- also wowie a plot (or something)

congrats for the **105 follows and 80 faves _yehET-_**

* * *

Tenya is lost and confused.

 _'Huh...? Wha-? Where is nii-san...?'_

"Tensei-nii...?" He called out from the crowd, trying to spot his older brother, who seemed to have been missing (It's actually the opposite but Tenya doesn't need to know _that_ ) while Tenya took his eyes off of his brother for a second.

Oh, no. This is _bad_.

Tenya gripped the hem of his shirt, feeling the fear slowly consuming him. He bit his lip, attempting to fight back tears as he looked around frantically for anyone familiar. The blue-haired child gulped, nervously walking around the mall aimlessly, before he finally stopped as he felt tired from walking.

He stood there for a while as he scanned for his brother. Tenya sighed, as his attempt was futile. He must've looked like an idiot for looking around like crazy. Still, _where_ is his brother? Tenya is seriously getting worried right now. Did something bad happen to his brother, and he somehow wasn't there for him? Tenya felt dread creep up inside him. Oh no, _what if Tensei-nii **forgot** him...?_

He immediately shook off the thought, feeling a bit silly for even thinking _that_. Seriously, he can be so unreasonably paranoid sometimes.

Tenya suddenly perked up, as he heard his name being called out in the distance. He whirled at the source of the call excitedly, only to be disappointed (although a bit happy) when he found out it wasn't his brother who call out his name. No, it was Sai. His partner during art class awhile ago and- dare he say it - _first friend._

So he was slightly cheered up when he saw her. "Oh, hey... Sai." He greeted her, smiling weakly.

"Sup." Sai replied back, giving him one of her own impassive smiles, which he honestly thought he could _never_ get used to. "So, how're you? You alone, or something?" She asked him with a hint of curiosity, as Tenya considered lying to her. It's not like she'll notice anything, _right._..?

However, his parents would always say that lying would only do more harm than good. So he decided to tell her the truth. "I... I'm lost." He said while avoiding eye contact, blushing in embarrassment. "But don't worry..." He said, in an attempt of being reassuring (if there even was _something_ to reassure) as Sai raised an eyebrow. "...I'll find my brother, don't worry."

"Wait," She said, tilting her head confusedly. "You..." Sai pointed at him with her index finger, "...lost your brother." She slowly stated, as he stared at her for a while.

He made a confused noise, attempting to correct her. "Uh, no. It's quite the opposite actually-" He mumbled, but got cut off by her laugh, which sounded oddly monotone.

"Well, okay then." She said, after finally calming down. "Let's go find your brother. I'm sure he's not that far from here." She remarked, grabbing his hand and dragging him away as he blinked at her, slightly puzzled. _What...? She's trying to help him? But **why?**_

He pulled his hand away from her, as she stopped and looked at him in concern. "...Is something wrong?" Sai asked him, to which he just winced at. "Oh."

Tenya's eyes widened, thinking that he must've hurt her feelings as he instantly apologized. "Sorry, Sai. I didn't mean to-"

"Oh, no. It's fine." Sai grinned at him, as he smiled back, albeit hesitantly. "So, something on your mind?" She asked him again, as his eyes found themselves staring at the ground, feeling his embarrassment creep up again. "You don't have to tell me if you're not comfortable with it." She added quickly, as if sensing his discomfort.

Tenya, finally having the courage to grab her hand and lead her to the place where he last saw his brother, sighed as he rubbed his nose with his other hand. "I'm just surprised at your... uh... _helpfulness._ " He mumbled the last part, feeling too shy to say it. "And it's not that I'm angry at you, if anything, I should be thankful at you for helping me." He said, as they both finally arrived at their destination; the bookstore. "Anyway, this is the place where I last saw my brother." He explained, noticing Sai's nonplussed look.

She hummed in acknowledgement, looking around her surroundings as he prompted to do the same. "Let's uh..." Sai scratched her head, "Ask people if they saw your brother around." She suggested, as he nodded in agreement and slapped himself internally for not thinking about it sooner.

"Alright, then." He voiced out his agreement, tagging along with Sai as she approached a woman who looks to be in her teens.

* * *

Sai could understand why Iida didn't think of asking people of a missing person. He was probably just too shocked (well, it was more like he panicked, but it's not like there's a _difference_ ) to think straight, hence why he ended up wandering around aimlessly with no specific destination in mind. Which led him to meeting her, and Sai helping him find said missing person.

"Um, excuse me-" Sai attempted to speak, but then got cut off by Iida randomly dragging her away from the womn she's attempting to talk to. "Wha- **why did you do that?!** " she hissed at him, as he frowned and pointed (quite _rudely_ ) at the teenager.

"She looks suspicious. I mean, look at her intimidating tattoos! _She even has piercings!_ " Iida whispered back to her with the same ferocity, as she raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "You should be more careful with who you talk to, Hinata-san!"

 _'...Really.'_ Sai thought wryly, pulling her hand away from him. " _Please_ tell me you're kidding." She said, as he still frowned as her. Sai ran a hand through her face, sighing in contained frustration. "Look, as much as I'd like to argue with you right now, you need to find your brother, right?" She asked him seriously, as he begrudgingly nodded. "So let me just ask her about his whereabouts."

" **But-!** " Sai stared at him intently, cutting off his protest.

"I ain't dealing with you bull sh-" She paused, correcting herself. "- _bull crap_ right now. So if you'll excuse me..." She marched back to the tattooed girl, politely smiling up at her.

"Uh, excuse me?" Sai called out to her, as the girl paused her texting in order to stare at her. "Have you seen a guy around here? He's around your age." She added, as the girl raised her eyebrow.

"Sorry, but you'll habe to be more specific than that, kid." She mumbled, as Sai blinked, trying to remember what Tenya's brother looked like.

"Erm..." Nope, she doesn't have a clue, aside from his age (that she _isn't even sure of_ and just roughly estimated) but thankfully Iida came to her rescue.

He stepped up beside her, twiddling with his thumbs shyly. "He looks kind of like me, but older! And he's also wearing a dark blue shirt with black pants." Iida stated, as the girl stroked her chin thoughfully, trying to remember him.

She suddenly snapped her fingers, before pointing to the direction of a department store. "Oh yeah! I remember some guy like him enter that store." She said, before raising a concerned eyebrow at them. "You want me to help you two in finding him?" She asked them, as Sai smiled but shook her head, turning down her offer.

Sai waved off her offer politely, slowly taking a step back along with Iida. "Thanks for the offer but-" She grabbed Iida's hand, forcing him to bow as she herself did. "-we _wouldn't_ wanna trouble you." She said, forcing a smile as Iida nodded in agreement with her.

And with that, the two of them bolted out of the awkward situation with the teenage girl left in the dust. "What was that all about...?" She muttered to herself, confused before shrugging, and continuing on with her day.

* * *

"Hinata-san!" Tenya panted, slightly tired from running away earlier. "Wha... Why did we run?" He asked her, slightly out of breath. Seriously though, why were they running...? Was he right about being suspicious at the tattooed girl?

Sai halted so suddenly, making him bump into her. "Oh, crap." She muttered, as he rubbed his head at the impact. "I uh... forgot to ask your opinion." She laughed sheepishly, as Tenya tilted his head at her confusedly. "Er, I was so used to turning down people when they offer help _so..._ " Sai shrugged, as Tenya felt like face palming at her (stupid) reason.

They went both inside the department store, all the while keeping an eye out for his brother. Sai looked mostly to the left, while he covered the right. They were like... _detective partners_! Tenya smiled at his silly imagination, as he thought of Sai clad in a trench coat, which seemed pretty ridiculous. He suddenly frowned, shaking his head as he shouldn't be so happy when his brother was missing.

...Oh great, now he had the same perception as Sai. **Brilliant.**

Tenya sighed, looking over at Sai, who seemed to be conversing (read: interrogating) another person, this time a staff. As she noticed him looking at her, she shook her head, indicating that she too hasn't found anything new about his brother's whereabouts. She talked to the man again, and as he approached both of managed to get a gist of their conversation. "-then we'll go there, thanks for the help."

He blinked, puzzled. "What? Go where?"

Sai smirked, going... _somewhere_ as he followed her. "To the information kiosk." She answered him, which didn't really clear up his confusion. Sai rolled her eyes, as he smiled sheepishly for still not getting what she's trying to express. "...If we can't find him ourselves, then we're gonna _find_ someone who can do it for us." Tenya's mouth formed an 'o' shape, finally understanding her idea.

"That's a great idea!"

"I know. I was pretty _stupid_ for not thinking of it earlier."

* * *

"Okay. thank you, miss!" Sai feels like her cheeks are hurting from smiling _too_ much in just one day. Honestly, who knew that talking to people while also pretending that you have a mentality of a child is _fucking exhausting?_ Also, Sai thinks she now she knows why adults are uncomfortable with talking to children; they don't know how to _handle_ their reactions.

While Sai did her business with the search staff, Iida was just sitting on a chair beside the information kiosk. So she wasn't surprised when he immediately bolted towards her, in the process of almost tackling her to the ground. **"So did they find Tensei-nii?!"** He practically screamed at her face, and _honestly?_ She couldn't blame him. Poor kid probably already had enough of the 'find this missing person' endeavor they did all day.

"Not yet." She said, plopping down on the chair that he previously sat on. "We have to wait for them to find your bro." She added, as he stared at her with a distressed look on his face. "So just _calm down_ , and stop worrying about it."

Iida looked like he wanted to stay something, but decided to shut up and just sat beside her.

Sai sighed, feeling suddenly bad for not really taking the kid's feelings into account. "Look, if you're really worried about him..." She paused, as she hadn't really thought up of anything to comfort him. For god'd sake, she wasn't even good at it. "...Uh, _just..._ " She attempted to remember the times her (previous) brother- who she _totally doesn't have beef with_ , by the way -tried to comfort her whenever Sai panics.

...She _doesn't_ think slapping Iida and shouting at him to **_"CALM THE FUCK DOWN, SATAN!"_** is a good idea.

So she settled to listening at his tirade for _hours_ , until his brother finally is found.

 ** _Fuck._**

* * *

AN: why cant i settle for a good ending god fucking damn it- child custody and guardianship are hella confusing dafuq- thank for reviews i appreciate it- also yes sai has a different surname _deal with it-_


	9. Impressions Left

AN: hey hey hey it's ** _6k reads_ **already woot woot- sorry for late update i got sicc lol

* * *

Iida Tensei doesn't really know what to think of Sai.

She's... okay- wait, actually she's _more_ than okay. Because not only did she help Tenya in finding him (which he _still_ thinks should be the opposite, but he doesn't want to damage his pride even more _so..._ ) but she also comforted him when his little brother was at his low moments; when Tensei himself _wasn't_ there for Tenya.

So he has to admit, he was angry- no, _furious._ Not with Sai, no- the kid earned his respect, actually -but with _himself_. He wasn't there when Tenya _needed_ him. _He wasn't there when someone needed help._ Hah, and he thinks that he _has_ what it takes to be a pro hero? _When he couldn't even be there for his **brother**?_

But then Sai confronted him about it.

"You probably still felt shitty-" He flinched at how easily she managed to utter those words for a child, "-about how you we're being an irresponsible big brother." She said, her words stinging him more painfully than he expected. Still, he couldn't blame her for stating it so harshly. After all, it was the cold hard _truth_ ; he was an irresponsible big brother. He couldn't really defend himself at that (if he even _wanted_ to) so just he nodded wordlessly at her remark.

Tenya ( _thankfully_ ) wasn't with them right now, as the child was taking a break in the restroom. So that means that he could have a talk with Sai, privately. "Thank you for being there for my brother." Tensei said, his voice full of honesty. "I... I don't know how to make up to you, so..." He swallowed, bowing in a complete ninety degree angle, "If you ever need any help, _please_ , don't hesitate to ask me for help!"

...Judging by her reaction- mouth open in shock, her cheeks blushing in a deep red -she probably didn't take his gratitude that well. He later learned that it's actually quite the opposite, and that he's just really bad at reading people, but he'll get to that in a moment.

"O-oh, no!" She stuttered. "It's no big deal, really!" Her eyes widened, realizing that she had probably phrased it the wrong way. "A-and I didn't mean that Tenya losing his brother isn't a big deal- it actually is-! I-" She paused and groaned, ducking her head down in an embarrassed manner. "Y-you know what? **Ugh...** "

To her (and his own) surprise, Tensei laughed at her flustered state. "Ah, I get what you mean." He said smiling as Sai stared at him like he had done something that we wasn't aware of. "And really, I mean it. If you really need help, don't hesitate to call me." He said, as he handed her a piece of paper with his number on it. The spiky haired girl took it (albeit with some hesitation) and inspected its content, before looking back at him, her eyes narrowed and cheeks flaming red.

Tensei blinked. _Did... he do something wrong?_

(Inside an exquisite restaurant, Yagi Toshinori sneezed.)

"Y-you-" She stammered, **"Are you hitting on me?!"** She exclaimed, pointing her finger at him accusingly as Tensei stared at her in a puzzled manner, before making a confused noise.

Wait, _what...?_

* * *

As soon as those words left Sai's mouth, she _knew._

 _She fucked up so bad she wants the ground to eat her right now and drag her into the pits of hell-_

Sai couldn't blame herself for getting into that conclusion, really. After all, she was a teenage girl stuck in a child's body. Of course she'd think like _that!_ Not to mention that fact that it's the same as how the guys previously tried to hit on her.

Still, it doesn't change the fact that _she fucked up._

 _ **'ASDFGHJKL-'**_

"...Um, are you okay?" She squeaked at Tensei's question, startled by the sudden noise. She faced him, her face blushing as the guy- who, in all honesty, looked kinda cute ( _you're not making it any better, **Sai**_ ) and charming -smiled at her. Oh god is she _seriously_ developing a crush at this fucking time? Ew, that means that she has _feelings._ Sai internally shuddered at that thought.

And then sweet, sweet Tenya saved her from being utterly embarrassed (if she wasn't _already_ ) just in time as he stepped in on their awkward situation. "Uh... Did something happen while I was gone?" He curiously asked the both of them, as Sai mouthed _'You're my hero'_ while he thankfully wasn't looking.

Wait does this mean the bro code applies to her- Oh shit. _'Sorry Tensei-kun, you may be hot, but you know what they say,'_ Sai thought as her mind suddenly had one of their moronic moments, _'Bros before Hoes.'_

Both of the brothers stared at her in varying degrees of reactions, with Tenya being confused and Tensei looking mildly horrified. Sai blinked, before realization came to her.

She groaned loudly, too embarrassed to even look at them in the face anymore as she covered her face with her hands. "Ugh. You can throw me to the sharks now." Sai said, her voice slightly muffled. " _Please don't come near me again-_ I'm just gonna make it even more awkward."

It was silent for a while (but it felt like hours to her what the fuck-) before Tensei burst out laughing, as Sai even groaned louder, her face already as red as a tomato. Meanwhile, poor Tenya looked lost and confused.

 _Bless that sweet child._

"You're funny, you know that?" Tensei said, as Sai fought the urge to flip him off. But instead of doing that, she just merely nodded jerkily. She felt like her dignity- or whatever's _left_ of it -was just stripped away from her.

Even in her embarrassed state, Sai still managed to throw in a sarcastic reply (which just made their situation even _more_ awkward) at Tenya. "Right. I always knew that I'm gonna be a great comedian someday." She rolled her eyes, scoffing as she harrumphed and walked away from the two of them as fast as she could because she literally couldn't take the awkwardness anymore _fuck-_

"Hey, where are you going?!" Tensei yelled at her, as she yelled back, "To a place where I belong in!"

Sai calls _bullshit_ in that statement, by the way. There's literally _no_ place that she belongs in. _She's supposed to be **dead** for fuck's sake!_

 _...Gah,_ way to bring down the mood immediately, Sai.

* * *

As they watched Sai disappear off into the distance, Tensei turned to his little brother. "Well, she's pretty... _interesting._ "

Tenya looked up at him, pouting adorably. "Hinata-san is awesome!" He said in an attempt to defend her, as Tensei raised an amused eyebrow. "She's really smart and- and she helped me in school earlier too!"

Now that statement peaked Tensei's attention. "Oh really? How so?" He asked Tenya, slightly curious. It's unlike of his little brother to talk about someone like that, especially with how Tenya sometimes judges people _too_ harshly.

"Yeah!" Tenya responded enthusiastically, doing another one of his weird (yet still cute) hand gestures. "She helped me color my artwork! She's _really_ good at it!" He grinned, as Tensei raised an eyebrow in slight surprise. Sai was the one who helped Iida paint his work? That's... _impressive_ , actually. In fact, he almost thought that it was Tenya's teacher who did the work.

Tensei whistled, impressed. "Wow. That's a cool friend you have there, Tenya." He has to admit, Sai's a _little_ bit eccentric, but she definitely is dubbed awesome in his book.

His little brother nodded in agreement. "I know, right?"

"...Nii-san?"

"Yes, Tenya?"

"What's a hoe?"

"..."

Oh, _crap._ He forgot about that.

* * *

"Sai. Are you happy with what you did just now?" Yagi suddenly asked Sai, as they were both eating inside the restaurant. It was nice, to be honest. Toshinori, for once, really thought that they were father and daughter. The back of his mind whispered that they were already destined to be father and daughter as soon as Sai was born but he didn't pay attention to any of that.

Sai blinked at him, startled by rather strange question. "Um... Yeah, I am." She answered after a while with a puzzled tone. "Why do you ask?" She muttered at him, raising an eyebrow as he smiled at her.

He leaned back in his chair, as he finally finished his meal. "Nothing, really. I was just curious."

"Oh." Sai didn't comment anything on that. "So, um... this weekend," She started, idly playing with her utensils, as he prompted her to continue. "Can we... um... go visit Gran Torino-san?"

 _...What? **Did he hear that right?**_

As if sensing his shock, Sai waved her hands hastily. "A-ah! We don't have to if you're comfortable with it!" She said, as Yagi finally processed her request. He immediately shuddered at the thought of his dear mentor, the memories of the old man training ( _torturing,_ his mind unhelpfully supplied) him while he was in his youth.

Seeing his reaction to her question, Sai lowered her hands and dropped the subject. But not before commenting his irrational fear for Gran Torino. _Irrational,_ his ass. _The man is a menace!_ Yagi had to remind himself that Sai hasn't experienced the horrors yet. And he sure hopes she _never_ does. But then... It's not like there's a reason for her to be trained, anyway. After all, she seems to be having signs of being quirkless.

Toshinori... _doesn't_ know whether it's a good thing or not.

* * *

AN: why was i struggling with this chap rip-

GOOD NEWS GOOD NEW ERRYBODY- I will be making longer chapters from now on (hooray for productiveness)


	10. Miscommunication

AN: wops ive been ded sorry- my laptop and pc broke so i had to update using the ipad (which is laggy as hell) and as an apology and gift i have something down below woop woop

Also is it just me, or do i really like using the unreliable narrator technique to confuse readers lol

* * *

After all that 'my big brother has gone missing' fiasco, Tenya thinks it's safe to say that his relationship with Sai has gone from friends to best friends. So they've been hanging out more than usual, now that they're in 3rd grade. It was _nice_ , having a friend you can count on. Even if said friend is _unreliable_ sometimes.

You know, just like now, where Sai was looking at him sheepishly, holding out a piece of homework. A piece of homework that's _empty_. "Uh... my dog ate it." She meekly said, in an attempt to excuse herself.

"...You don't have a dog. And your paper doesn't look like it's eaten at all." Tenya deadpanned, holding out his hand for her to give her unfinished (but it was more like _she only wrote her name_ ) homework to him. She refused to give it to him. Needless to say, Tenya is unamused.

She gripped the paper harder, holding it protectively to her chest. "C'mon, man. Just pass the damn papers without mine already." She whined- although she refused to call it a whine, Iida thinks otherwise -as Tenya remained firm, still holding out his hand. "It's not like it'll change _anything_ if I did pass my paper." She said, raising an eyebrow.

Iida sighed, already done with all her nonsense. "Just give me the paper already." He said, as she protested before he cut her off with a glare. "Your empty paper should be passed to show the teacher how _irresponsible_ you are, Sai." He added, further shutting her up as she begrudgingly gave her paper to him, mumbling something about hating teacher's pets and overachievers.

Tenya rolled his eyes, already used to this.

So yeah, it was _nice_ having a friend. Tenya thought their relationship with her was going to last like that forever; just two best friends who have each other's backs. And to be honest? He was right. Err, kind of.

It was just best to show it to the readers, as to not confuse them, to be honest.

* * *

It started out much like a normal day. Tenya and Sai were just hanging out in the merry go round (as if they _own_ it) as usual. They were dubbed as one of the _'cool kids,_ ' which Iida never really understood why they gave him a title like that. Honestly, he thinks that he was only referred as a _'cool kid'_ just because he's hanging out with _Sai_ , who's a definitive _'cool kid.'_

"Gah, enough with the _'cool kids'_ crap already!" Sai shouted at him, startling Tenya as he didn't realize he was muttering things out loud until Sai screamed at him to stop. "Honestly, you're worried about that?" She gave him a disappointed look, as he sighed and pouted.

Tenya stared at her, as she stared back at him. "Am I... _boring?_ " He asked her with an insecure tone, as she relaxed for a moment, her face softening slightly, before resuming back to her resting bitch face ( _her words,_ not his) as she hummed thoughtfully.

"Well..." She held her chin as if she's thinking something complicated, "...You're certainly an earnest guy, if that's what you mean." She finally said, as he sighed, smiling sadly. "Uh, you're not boring though." She suddenly added, as he looked at her in slight confusion.

Tenya narrowed his eyes at her. "But you said that-"

"- _'Iida is such a serious guy,'_ I know." Sai finished Tenya's statement for him dryly, rolling her eyes. "But I didn't say you we're boring." She said, as he gave her an indescribable look.

"You _implied_ it, you idiot." He actually wanted to bash his head in a wall because of Sai's utter lack of empathy whatsoever. Honestly, it feels like he's just talking to a brick wall sometimes. He was even surprised at the fact that Sai had a _crush_ at his brother.

She blinked in shock. "I did?" She asked, sounding genuinely horrified as Iida gazed at her with the most unimpressed look he could ever pull off. "Oh, _I did._ "

 _God help him, he's stuck with an impossibly clueless_ _ **idiot**_ _._

"Hey! Do you guys wanna play hide and seek? We're short on players!" Someone shouted, probably one of their classmates. Tenya and Sai stared at each other, before she shrugged as Tenya gave their classmate a thumbs up.

* * *

"Sure, whatever. We're playing." Sai mumbled, approaching the other kids with Iida trailing behind her. "So who's the seeker?" She asked, folding her arms as their classmate, whose name is Takeshi, grinned and pointed at another one of their classmates. "Oh."

"You're it!" He exclaimed, as the 'it,' Yuri, pouted and stomped her feet quite childishly. Sai internally rolled her eyes at their immaturity, before suddenly remembering that she's still in third grade, and that there's no such thing as maturity here. Still, that's kind of unfair, just randomly picking another student as 'it' without any reason.

Yuri harrumphed. " _Why me?_ " She whined, groaning at the unfairness. "Why not someone like- I don't know, _Hinata?_ " She suggested as Sai's eye twitched at her classmate's attempt to make her seeker. Oh god, she regrets joining this game now.

"No." Sai flatly declined when they all looked at her, as they flinched at her monotone voice. She smirked internally, glad that they got her intention. The spiky haired girl then raised her finger, suggesting that they just draw lots using leaves. Whoever got the brown one is it.

Yuri got it. Hah, serves her right for denying being seeker in the first place.

As Yuri counted, children scrambled to find a place to hide. Sai immediately went to the biggest tree with the most leaves, then climbed on it. Poor Iida couldn't climb the tree with her, so the blue haired kid just resorted to hiding behind said tree in hopes of not being found out too fast. Others, meanwhile, found some good spots in the playground and of course, there were the unlucky ones whose ran out of good spots to hide.

Sai felt comfortable in the branch she's perched on. Ah, well. She'll just hide here until break time's over.

Not a moment later Iida was caught. She showed him her fist as a sign of threat as he looked conflicted as to whether or not sell her out. He didn't, and Sai heaved out a sigh of relief, before crouching lower behind a bush of leaves. Who knew that playing hide and seek is actually tiring?

* * *

"Aw, man..." Iida muttered, sulking slightly as he followed Yuri back to the wall where she counted as they were hiding. "Wait, was I the first one who got found?" He asked her, as she nodded, smirking proudly to herself. Tenya groaned; well that hiding spot he found was just plain horrible. He wished he had the skill to climb trees so he can join Sai.

Yuri suddenly tapped his shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts. "C'mon, help me find the others so we can get this over with already." She demanded, her voice slightly bossy. "Ugh, I can't believe Takeshi-kun said that we _couldn't_ use our quirks." Yuri said, groaning as Iida looked at her in slight surprise. They actually aren't allowed to use their quirks while playing? "If we can, then this game would be more fun and easy."

 _Speaking of quirks..._

"Oh yeah." Tenya attempted to initiate a conversation with her. "What's your quirk, by the way?" He asked Yuri, genuinely curious. Come to think of it, he never saw her use her quirk. Kind of like Sai, in a way.

She hummed in acknowledgement, indicating that she heard his question. "Well..." She titled her head, pursing her lips in thought. "...It's definitely not fancy, if you're wondering about that." She said, as they climbed the slide in order to get a wider view of the playground. "I can read an animal's thoughts."

 _Woah_ , that's a pretty impressive quirk. He'd always wonder how animals think, and if they are capable of having the same mentality as humans. Tenya voiced out his compliments, to which Yuri blushed and told him to shut up. Well, that was a strange reaction. Sai _always_ accepts his compliments, no matter how small they are.

...He _really_ needs to have more friends, since he always compares people to Sai.

"-So what is Hinata-chan's quirk?" Yuri asked Tenya, as he paused, not knowing how to answer the question. After all, never have the two of them ever discuss the concept of quirks, as the spiky haired girl never seemed to be interested in them. Plus, he feels bad whenever he shows off his quirk in front of her, although he never knew why.

And so he remained silent, not answering her question as Yuri raised an eyebrow at his silence. "Wait..." She suddenly muttered, a wicked grin plastered on her face. "Don't tell me that she's _quirkless_?" She asked him, as he slightly flinched. He was pretty sure with himself that Sai has a quirk, and that she's just a late bloomer. It's not really uncommon for someone's quirk to show up late.

Tenya is _not_ in denial. _He is definitely_ _ **not**_ _._

He remained silent, as Yuri pumped her fist. " _Aha!_ " She yelled, pointing a finger at him as he raised an eyebrow. "I knew that was something weird about her!" She exclaimed triumphantly, resting her hands on her hips. "Anyway, let's go there! I saw Shou-kun hiding in one of the bushes!" She tugged at his shirt, pulling him with her as they chased after Shou, who noticed that they had found out his hiding spot and is now running away from them.

"Get back here, you cheater!" Yuri screamed as they both ran after him, as the brunet screamed back, "Shut up, I'm not cheating!"

Tenya pulled her hand away from him, stopping both of them. "Wha-" Yuri mumbled, before getting cut off as Tenya ran past her. "Yeah, go get him, Iida-kun!" She cheered for him, as he ran faster, determined to catch Shou. He had to hold himself back at using his quirk, though, since he didn't want to cheat while playing.

On the other hand, the brunet, noticing that Iida is quickly gaining distance on him, yelped and ran faster in hopes of not getting caught.

But alas, Shou failed as Iida finally tagged him with a proud grin on his face.

"That was _so_ unfair!" Shou complained, scratching the back of his head as Yuri stuck her tongue out at him.

"Well, sucks to be you, I guess." She said cheekily, sporting a sweet smile. She then jabbed a thumb at another one of their classmates, whom Iida hasn't noticed before. "By the way, I also found Tsuki-chan while you guys were busy playing tag." She boasted, as Tsuki waved at them sheepishly. "Now there's only two people left; Hinata-chan and that idiot Takeshi." She said, as Iida sweat-dropped at the unnecessary insult.

Shou suddenly stomped his foot, catching all of their attention. "Well, what are we waiting for, then?" He asked them, as the rest of them looked at each other confusingly. "Let's find them now!" Shou yelled excitedly, as Yuri exclaimed in agreement.

Uhh, _yay...?_ Tenya wasn't too enthused in finding others, as he was feeling tired (and bored, but he doesn't want to admit that in fear of being called out on) so he just nodded silently as with Tsuki, who doesn't seem too excited either. "...Whatever." She quietly muttered, avoiding eye contact with everybody.

* * *

 _'Ha! They'll never find me here!'_ Takeshi thought with a smug grin, cackling silently as he watched his classmates scourge the area frantically for him. _'Idiots! They didn't even notice I was hiding in plain sight!'_ He thought, stifling a laugh as he saw Yuri unintentionally trip Shou, making them topple in an equivalent of human dominoes.

Currently, Takeshi is hiding in one of the many bushes around the playground. The biggest bush in school, to be specific. No wonder that the others couldn't find him, since he is literally inside said bush.

He also noticed that one of his classmates are missing, but then dismissed the thought as he thinks that Hinata was probably just on the other side of the playground in an attempt to find him. Hmph, he knew he's the best when one of the so-called _'cool'_ kids couldn't even find him!

" **Boo**."

Takeshi screamed, flailing his arms as he got out of the bush in fright. In front of him was his classmates, who currently were looking at him with varying degrees of amusement. Yuri was laughing at him obnoxiously, joined by Shou who was also crying tears of amusement. Iida was trying to suppress his laugh, but still managed to let out a chuckle or two. And finally, the culprit for his embarrassment, Tsuki. She just kept silent while others laughed at him, but Takeshi noticed a glint of amusement in her eyes. He stood up, face burning from both anger and humiliation. _"What the heck_ , Tsuki!?" He screamed at her, as the person in question just smirked at him while giving a peace sign.

He also observed that they had managed to gain quite a crowd of other students, staring at him with curiosity. "What are you all looking at, huh?!" He yelled at them, as they flinched, backing away slowly from the scene.

Yuri, who was still laughing loudly, took deep breaths to calm herself. "Oh," She gasped out in between laughs, "T-that was the funniest thing I have ever seen in my entire life." She remarked with a giggle, as Takeshi just stared at his classmates with a betrayed look on his face. "And don't look at us like that, it's just a game!" She scoffed, noticing his stare as the others nodded with her in agreement.

"...I _hate_ you guys." Takeshi muttered, averting his gaze from everyone. "But whatever. Who's the one who got found first?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Yuri pointed a thumb at Iida. "He did." She said, as the blue haired boy sighed and nodded sadly. "But it's not over yet, though." Yuri added quickly, waving her hands in a disclaiming motion. "Someone's not found yet; Sai."

Wait, _what-?_

"You mean you didn't find her yet?" Takeshi asked them in disbelief, as Shou laughed sheepishly. " _Seriously?_ " He asked them, incredulously, still not believing it.

Iida opened his mouth as if to say something but quickly shut it, looking to the ground as if it's the most interesting thing in the world. Takeshi raised an eyebrow. That was a strange reaction. "Well then. Let's all look for her together, I guess." He suggested, as everyone replied with nods.

"Yeah."

"Sure."

Hm, he supposed it's not too hard to find Sai. Takeshi himself knows every nook and cranny around the playground. After all, his classmates wouldn't hail him as the best hider for nothing.

Takeshi finds out that he's gonna swallow his own words sooner or later.

* * *

The bell rang already, and they still haven't found her yet.

 _'What the hell?'_ Sai thought with a deep frown, quickly climbing down the tree. _'Why haven't they found me yet?'_ She raised an eyebrow, as she blended in with the other kids, luckily avoiding her other playmates as they looked rather peeved that they hadn't found her. _'Maybe I should stop overestimating kids so much._ ' Sai mused wryly, rolling her eyes.

But then again, Iida could easily tell them her location, seeing as he did found her hiding spot from the very start. Sai then suddenly remembered that she threatened him into not selling her out, so she decided that she should apologize to him later for being such a horrible friend.

Maybe she'll treat him with pizza as an apology, who knows.

Sai finally arrived at their classroom with a tired sigh, where she plopped down to her designated seat; directly in front of the teachers table.

Curse Tenya and his teacher's pet authority.

Soon after, more kids trickled in the room, chatting loudly to each other about trivial things. Sai rolled her eyes, slightly irritated to the noise. _'Gah, what the hell. Can't they all just talk with quiet voices?'_

Sai tried to avoid her playmates' piercing stares and instead listened to the teacher as he finally came in and started his lecture, which was something about decimals or whatever. She was mildly successful.

Hours passed by and it was finally dismissal time.

"Yo, Ten-chin!" Sai called the bespectacled boy, waving her arms up to him as he waited for her and they both walked together through the hallway. Tenya took one look at her, his eyes slightly glistening with tears, before giving as strained smile as he tried to discreetly wipe his tears.

It didn't go unnoticed to Sai.

She grinned, attempting to sling an arm around him to which she failed, seeing as the boy is literally almost a foot taller than her, so she just settled on laying a hand on his shoulder. "You okay?" Sai asked him, as Tenya slightly flinched at her flat tone. "Do you want me to beat someone up for you?" She joked, trying to lighten up his mood.

Sai grinned as her plan worked, as Tenya quietly chuckled at her remark. "No thanks, Sai." He replied back playfully, and they both laughed as the tense atmosphere dissipated.

"So..." Sai stared at him expectantly, as he shrugged. "Is something bothering you?" She asked him.

Tenya sighed, cheeks turning slightly pink. "It's a stupid thought, really." He muttered, looking to the side. "Plus, you'll probably just laugh it off and move on to a next topic." He added, huffing slightly. "But yeah. Something is bothering me."

Sai blinked. "Ah." She stared at him knowingly. "Is this about them gossiping about me earlier?" She deadpanned, as he grimaced, nodding before realizing something as he whipped his head to look at her in surprise.

"Wait, _how-?!_ "

"I'm not exactly deaf, you know." Sai dryly remarked, smirking as he blinked in realization. "I heard them saying my name a lot from my hiding spot so I came to the conclusion that they're talking crap about me." She deadpanned, before staring at him dead in the eye. "So am I right or am I right?"

Tenya remained silent, as Sai hummed in victory. "Yeah, thought so." She said, sighing. "Don't mind them, Tenya. It's not like you're the one they were talking about."

And it's not like their words affect her at all. But Sai didn't say that out loud, as she figured that Tenya wouldn't want to hear that from her.

"But-" Tenya said, but she cut him off with a laugh. God, he just takes everything too seriously, it's not even funny anymore.

"Lighten up, dude! Stop moping about it already!" Sai elbowed him teasingly, chuckling at his too serious face.

" **BUT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, SAI!** " Tenya screamed in frustration, shocking Sai as he pushed her back away from him, making her stagger at his surprising strength. "You don't understand that- that their words affect _me_ too!" He cried out, as they both stopped just right outside the school building,

Sai lowered her head, her expression unreadable. "I... I see." She mumbled, her eyes slightly glossy as she finally looked up at him. "I didn't realize that. I'm sorry, that was stupid of me to assume that you're fine." The spiky haired girl said in a monotone voice, slowly walking ahead of him. "I'll... go now, if you don't mind. I'm pretty sure they already convinced you to stay away from a freak like me."

So that was it, huh? Some friendship, thrown away just by one _shitty_ gossip. To be honest though, she should have expected that it will eventually happen to her in the first place.

* * *

Tenya's eyes widened in shock. No, that was _not_ what he meant at all. That was definitely _not_ what he meant at all. How the heck did that idiot come to _that_ conclusion?

(A part of his mind commented that it was nice to finally see Sai showing an ounce of empathy to him, even though it had hurt her. He then immediately slapped himself internally for thinking such a thought.)

"No, Sai! Wait!" He caught up to her, panting slightly as she gave him with a blank stare. "I- no. That's not what I was thinking at all." He said, as Sai raised an eyebrow, prompting him to continue. He took a deep breath as they both walked together, the spiky haired girl still staring at him expectantly. Tenya gulped; well, this is nerve wracking.

"I..." He started, "I was thinking about your quirk, or lack thereof." He quickly said, avoiding her piercing gaze as Sai blinked in confusion. "I didn't tell them that you're quirkless, I swear!" He hastily added, further confusing her.

She narrowed her eyes at him, tilting her head in confusion. "...What."

"Yeah, I know it's stupid for thinking about someone else's quirk." Tenya sheepishly said, as she stared at him for a while, as if assessing his worth. "What?" He asked her nervously, as she kept staring at him.

 **"What."**

 _"What?"_

 _ **"What."**_

 _What?_ _ **What's happening?**_

He raised an eyebrow, gently tapping her in the shoulder. "Uh, Sai? You still there?" He asked her, grinning uneasily at her unresponsiveness. "Sai-"

She suddenly spoke, startling him. "But I'm not quirkless, Ten-chin." She stated slowly, looking st him incredulously as he blinked at her in shock.

Um, _what?_ Did he hear that right?

 _'But I'm not quirkless, Ten-chin.'_

 _ **'- not quirkless -**_ '

'You have a _quirk_?!" He blurted out in shock, as she nodded jerkily, unsure of what is happening right now. Although to be fair, he too has no idea as to what is going on right now why is Sai saying that she has a quirk-

She huffed, pouting at him. "You don't remember? I just told you a few weeks ago." She muttered, frowning.

Iida blinked, trying to rack his brain in search fot that certain memory until he finally remembered a specific event, to which Sai off handedly mentioned her quirk's ability to him.

* * *

 _It was during math class, where their teacher assigned them to do finish a worksheet about division._

 _ **"Hey Ten-chin,"**_ _Sai pulled a chair beside his desk and sat on it, propping her arm onto the table._ _ **"You would not believe what happened to me yesterday."**_ _He heard her talking, but he was too absorbed in finishing his seat work so he just settled for nodding along._

 _She grinned, before pulling up her sleeves to show him a... fresh scar?_

 _Tenya frowned at her, slightly concerned._ _ **"Sai, did you fall off a tree while climbing on it again?"**_ _Honestly, knowing Sai, he wouldn't be surprised if that actually happened._

 _"Wha-" Sai frowned, shaking her head._ _ **"No! I'm not that stupid!"**_ _She sputtered, as he heaved out a sigh of relief, before returning his attention back to his worksheet._

 _Sai groaned beside him, before making an attempt to grab his paper._ _ **"Gah, give me that!"**_ _She demanded, forcefully grabbing his work._ _ **"Tsk, you're so slow when answering, Ten-chin."**_ _Sai snorted, looking over his paper as he tried to take it back._

 _Iida rolled his eyes._ _ **"Just get back to your seat already, Sai."**_ _God, she could be so annoying sometimes._ _ **"And give me the paper and let me finish already, ugh!"**_ _He grumbled, as his short friend pouted, but gave the paper to him._

 _She leaned back onto her chair, holding her hands up dramatically._ _ **"But I have so much more to share to you, Ten-chin!"**_ _Sai declared, which ended up sounding odd because of her flat tone._ _ **"And I'm pretty sure you'll be interested about it."**_

 _ **"Uh-huh, sure I am."**_ _Tenya agreed, his uninterested tone contradicting his statement._ _ **"Say, how do you turn a mixed fraction into an improper fraction?"**_ _He asked her, as she shrugged._

 _ **"I don't know what our math teacher taught you guys, but I just multiplied the whole number with the denominator, then added the product to the numerator."**_ _She said, waving her hand dismissively._ _ **"But that's not important! What's important is how I got my scar!"**_ _She said, showing said scar to him again._

 _ **"...How about the denominator?"**_ _He asked her, as she rolled her eyes and told him to just copy it._ _ **"Oh, thanks."**_

 _She sighed, pursing her lips._ _ **"You done now?"**_ _Sai asked him, slightly annoyed when he answered with an 'almost.'_ _ **"Fine! I'll just tell it to you right now, straight to the point!"**_ _She huffed, standing up from her seat._

 _ **"I got it..."**_ _She started, before slamming her hands on his desk._ _ **"...Because my drawing of a tiger came to life and scratched me!"**_ _She stated, to which he just nodded mindlessly, and returned to his work_.

 _...Wait, what did she just say?_

* * *

"Uhm, you can turn your drawings to life, right...?" He concluded, slightly unsure of himself. Well, he did remember Sai saying those things.

Wow, he's such a _terrible_ friend, gosh.

Sai nodded, grinning at him. "Yep!" She said proudly, before suddenly looking sullen. "I can't control them though. It's as if they have a mind of their own..." She muttered glumly, a cloud of depression forming over her head.

Iida sweatdropped. Suddenly, her mood just went 180. He doesn't know whether to laugh or pity at her expense. After all, Sai always makes fun of him whenever he trips because of his quirk. It's only _fair_ that he does the same, _right?_

... He _really_ is a terrible friend, gosh.

Clicking his tongue, Tenya patted his short friend's head sympathetically. "Don't worry, Sai." He reassured her, as she looked up at him with questioning eyes. "I know how you feel." He remarked dryly, as she snorted, chuckling quietly.

"Okay, okay. Now we're even." Sai smirked, understanding his implication. "Anyway, let's hang out at your place. Movie marathon with pizza?" She suggested, wiggling her eyebrows as he shrugged.

He bets she's only gonna ogle at his brother.

"No, I'm not! _Shut up!_ "

"Sure, Sai. **Sure**."

It was nice, having a friend you can rely on. Having a friend that you can connect and relate with. Tenya wishes... that as cheesy as it may sound, their bond may _never_ be broken.

* * *

Omake 1: Crushes

"So," Yuri nudged Iida's shoulder, grinning slyly. "I noticed that you and Sai... _seem pretty close._ " She remarked, as he nodded while raising an eyebrow, slightly wondering as to what the girl is going on about.

She suddenly grabbed both of his shoulders firmly, stopping him from his tracks. "Tell, me Iida-kun." Yuri said, her face serious. "Are you and Sai boyfriend and girlfriend?" She asked him, as he blinked at the questions.

He and Sai... **dating.**

Yeah, no. That's just disgusting. "I'd rather date a _live shark_ than her." He answered truthfully, shrugging. "I honestly think it's more likely that she's going to be my future sister-in-law." He then muttered, suddenly thinking about Sai's crush (in which he isn't actually sure if it's real or not) on his brother.

"Yo, Tenya! You talkin' crap about me now, huh?!" Sai, who seemed to have overheard their conversation, hollered at him. "I heard it! You should get your glasses checked, idiot! I'm _much more_ girlfriend material than what you expect!" Sai exclaimed angrily, waving her arms around as she approached them in a huff.

Yuri, noticing her, immediately paled. "Oh, _crap_."

Iida rolled his eyes, staring at her intently. "I'm pretty sure you're supposed to say that to my brother, not me." He deadpanned, as Sai blinked in realization.

"Oh, right. Remind me to tell that to Sei-chin, then." And with that, the spiky haired girl left.

Yuri blinked. "...What the heck did I just witness?" She asked the thin air, as Iida answered for her.

"Stupidity, apparently."

* * *

Omake 2: Drawing

"To-chin, To-chin, look what I did!" Sai held out her masterpiece to the skinny man, puffing her chest proudly. "I made it myself! Are you proud of me now, _huh?_ To-chin?" She asked him, as he looked at her drawing in amazement.

Yagi whistled, impressed. "Wow, that's impressive, young one." He compliment her, ruffling her already messy hair, to which she beamed at. "Do you want me to put it in the refrigerator door?" He asked her, as she nodded.

He took her drawing and placed it on the refrigerator door, examining it in slight interest. As he did it and turned back to Sai, the girl immediately gasped, staring at something behind him. _"Oh no."_

The number one hero blinked. "What's wrong- _gah_!" He yelped, as he felt something sting on his arm. Toshinori raised his stinging arm, raising a non-existent eyebrow as he saw Sai's cat drawing clinging onto him.

"Ah! I swear I didn't mean it! It just jumped outta the paper on it's own!" Sai defensively said, pouting at him as he patted her head.

"Don't worry, Sai." He smiled at her gently. "I'm not mad at you. I'm just confused as to why your drawing would do this." He turned his attention back to said drawing, who was clawing violently on his arm.

Hm, he wonders why. Maybe it had something to do with the child's emotions?

Well, if it did, then Toshinori is seriously in to a _lot of trouble_.

* * *

AN: so i made twO omakes since it's Christmas lol

Happy Holidays y'all!


	11. Discord

AN: remember when i said that my laptop was broken? yeah, it's not fixed yet. enjoy the chapter lol

* * *

It's weekend, and Sai is currently at Gran Torino's place.

"What the hell are you doing here, brat?" He asked her, as the spiky haired girl sat comfortably on his couch.

Sai merely yawned, "To-chin sent me here, I dunno." She said, shrugging as he sent her a questioning look. "Hey, don't look at me like that. He said that whatever he's investigating is ' **confidential**.'" She said, making air quotations. "Although I'm pretty sure he just dropped me off here and went back to Tokyo to do... _whatever Symbols of Peace do_." She couldn't help but mutter to herself quietly, rolling her eyes at the number one hero's attempt to be discreetly protective.

Sai doesn't need protection. _Nope_. She's a strong independent person, _damn it!_ She doesn't need any protection from anyone.

The old man snorted, understanding her situation. "Must be hard, being a pro hero's daughter." He dryly remarked, as Sai laughed.

"You couldn't have said it any better." She leaned back onto the couch, sighing. But then suddenly remembering something, Sai sat upright, facing Gran Torino. "By the way, I wanna ask you something." She said, tilting her head to the side.

Gran Torino, who she now noticed was sitting on the kitchen counter while eating a taiyaki- without even telling her, _the jerk_ -gave a hum of confirmation, prompting her to continue.

"How do you control a quirk?" Sai bluntly asked him, as he raised an eyebrow. "I know you're the best person to ask, since yours seem to be rather... _uncontrollable_ at first glance." She sheepishly pointed out, as Gran Torino blinked at her.

He then suddenly laughed, startling Sai with his strange reaction. "Wha- _**hey!** What're you laughing at!?_" She asked him, stuttering in embarrassment as she waved her hands in a frantic manner. "It's not like I'm wrong, _right?!_ I mean, you at least had one point in your life where you _can't_ control your quirk, **_right?!_** " She stammered, her voice turning an octave higher with each word she spoke.

The stout man gave her an amused look, smirking slightly. "Tell me, kid. Did Toshinori set you up with this?" He asked her, as she processed his words.

 _...What?_

As if reading her mind (which she was pretty sure that he actually _did_ ), he sagely nodded, as if she just gave him the answers to the universe. "I see. So he didn't, then." He concluded, as Sai raised an eyebrow before slumping back onto the couch.

"...So, how do you do it, then?" Sai asked him again, just realizing that he didn't answer her question at all. _Gah_ , blame her embarrassment earlier for being slightly unfocused today.

Gran Torino, who finally finished his taiyaki- he didn't even give her one, **_the jerk_** -licked his lips, before jumping down the counter and bouncing off the floor with his quirk, which ended up with him landing beside her on the couch.

Sai gave out an impressed whistle at that. _Cool_.

Finally situating himself in the couch, he stared at her. "It depends on the quirk, really." He finally answered, as Sai narrowed her eyes. It's not that he's wrong, but what he said was pretty much obvious already.

"My quirk's an **Emitter type** , I think." Sai elaborated, suddenly remembering one of Tenya's lectures about quirks types. The old man then hummed, tilting his head as she raised n expectant eyebrow. "I can- _uh_ , bring my drawings to life, or something like that." She added, twiddling with her thumbs. She absentmindedly noticed that she's been doing this a lot whenever she talks about serious topics.

Getting hurt because of your quirk just because you can't control is a serious topic, no matter how silly it sounds. Quirks are supposed to aid you, _not_ inconvenient you.

(Sai briefly wondered if quirks were the reason humanity is becoming stagnant with technology these days. She later found out that she _wasn't exactly wrong_.)

"...Do you even _know_ how your quirk works, brat?" Gran Torino asked her with an intense stare as Sai attempted to find logic in her newfound ability.

Come to think of it, _how the hell_ does she bring her drawings to life, anyway? Aren't there usually drawbacks? How about the medium used? Does it affect the live drawings? _**What if-**_

The old man suddenly coughed loudly, interrupting her train of thought. "I can hear you thinking, Sai." He teased her, as she blushed, her face turning pink from embarrassment. "It's an important thing to know the extent of your quirk, Sai. After all, how would you control it if you don't even know what it does?" He said, as Sai's face held a look of realization.

"Now shoo, go practice controlling your quirk somewhere." He pushed her off the couch rather harshly, as she yelped when her face came into contact with the cold hard floor.

Sai grumbled silently while standing up, glaring at the napping figure of Gran Torino. Someday, _surely. **She would get her revenge.**_

But first of all, she needs to test her quirk.

* * *

 _Fuck it._

 _ **Fuck all of it.**_

Sai warily stared at the little monster she dubbed as ' **Chibi-Sai** ,' which is exactly what it entails. Chibi-Sai is one of the menaces that she managed to bring to life- quite _accidentally_ , her mind traitorously whispered -and right now she is _one hundred percent certain_ that the creature is spawn of satan.

" _Please_ ," She pinched the bridge of her nose, clearly agitated. "Stop. _ **Stop moving damn it!**_ " She screamed, lunging at the mischievous creature, who seems to find amusement at her own creator's suffering.

Chibi-Sai dodged Sai's attempts to catch it, childishly blowing a raspberry at her. The spiky-haired girl cursed loudly, before attempting to catch her again. "Get back here you piece of shit!" She lunged again, but failed as she crashed into a pile of garbage. "God fucking damn it!"

To all the people who passed by her, they nodded mournfully at the poor kid, silently sending their condolences.

"I don't need them!" Sai screeched, before gagging as she was assaulted by the horrible stench of garbage dump. "I want _death_." She muttered, before hurling as she heard faint laughter coming from her (horrid, _horrid_ ) creation.

Yeah, definitely _fuck_ all of this shit.

Sai, finally out of the trash pile and is currently sitting on the ground, glared at the source of all her current problems. She had enough of this shit. " **Stop**." She icily commanded, as Chibi-Sai froze at her words.

Petrified, the pocket-sized version of her seemingly shrank to herself, looking slightly abashed. Sai suddenly blinked, astonished at her creation's behavior. _'Huh, maybe I just needed to put more pressure into my words.'_ She thought to herself, humming thoughtfully as she stepped closer to Chibi-Sai and scooped her up. _'Well that was a disaster. I hope I never have to experience that ever again.'_

"Now what the hell am I supposed to do with you...?" Sai stared at her live drawing, who stared back at her in curiosity.

* * *

Sai returned back to Gran Torino with mud and grime all over her. Also, was that a _banana peel_ on top of her head?

He snorted, as Sai stared at him blankly while holding... something on her hand. "Did you take a swan dive into a dumpster or something?" He jokingly asked her, as her stare turned into a ferocious glare. "What's wrong with you? Did something crawled up your ass today?"

Sai, unperturbed by his use of foul language, merely flipped him off with her other hand. He rolled his eyes at the kid's passive aggressiveness. "Do you have a cage or something." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. "I have to lock something up." She added, as she saw his questioning look.

"Ah," He pointed to a corner. "I think I have one cage there. It was previously used to cage in mice, so it's pretty small." He said, to which she nodded and went to the corner to grab said cage.

The spiky haired brat soon returned with the cage in hand, as she placed it on the coffee table just in front of him. Gran Torino blinked, as he saw something peek out of the bars.

"...Why?" He couldn't help but ask.

Sai's response was a deadpan stare. "The thing is the incarnation of the devil, I'm pretty sure of it."

Her drawing (or so he thinks it's her drawing that came alive because of her quirk) in return flipped her off, as if she heard and understood the insult her creator said.

 _Well... this is certainly interesting._

He's going to have a talk with Toshinori about this sooner or later, whether the number one hero likes it or _not_.

But back to the situation at hand. "Was there any reason why your... _thing_ came to life?" He asked Sai, slightly curious. At the brat's confused look, he elaborated. "Did something trigger your quirk?"

"Ah..." Sai frowned thoughtfully, stroking her chin. "...I remember thinking how it must've been nice to have an assistant while I was drawing this-" She gestured to the artwork in question, slightly wincing, "-then suddenly after that, it just jumped outta the ground and pounced on me."

She then removed the banana peel on top of her head, cringing in disgust at the horrid smell. "Gah, why didn't you tell me this thing's stuck to me?" Sai muttered, voice laced with disgust.

"And?" He prompted her, leaning on the couch as she attempted to dust the dirt off of her. "What can you get from that?"

As if remembering something unpleasant, Sai cringed harder. "Well, _one_ thing's for certain," She said, staring dirtily at her live drawing who kept blewing raspberries at her. "I'm definitely terrible at controlling my drawings." She stated before blinking. "Well, _for now_ I guess." Sai added as an afterthought.

"Also, I think it's **drive**." She said, humming thoughtfully to herself. At his puzzled look, she blushed and elaborated. "Well, I think it's my drive that _\- you know_ ," She made indescribable hand gestures that may or may not be becoming a habit. "-It's the drive that brings them to life."

Gran Torino nodded, not at all disagreeing with her. Not bad. The kid's observation skills are much better than he anticipated it to be. To be honest, he thought that the brat's just gonna whine at him for help. _Although..._

"You think you missed something." He pointed out, as she huffed, but nonetheless confirmed his statement. "What do you think it is?" He asked her, as she frowned.

A pause. "...I don't know how I'm powering my drawings." She answered after a few moments, her voice genuinely puzzled. "I get the thing about _giving_ them life, of course, my drive/will took care of that." Sai rambled on, as he merely nodded along with her. "But there has to be something that _keeps them moving_." She stressed, scratching her head in frustration before snapping her head towards the old man.

"Wait, I'm not over thinking this, am I?" She asked him, tilting her head. "Please tell me if I do over think this." She voiced out dryly. "I don't want to end up like a paranoid idiot."

He shook his head at that. "Nah, it's perfectly normal for curious brats like you-" Cue angry protests by Sai here, "-to question your quirks like this." He said, before standing up from his spot and stretching. "Now would you mind taking away your creation now? It's getting annoying already."

"Oh yeah, about that." Sai suddenly looked sheepish. "Uh... can you help me how to get rid of her?" She asked him.

Gran Torino didn't even bat an eye at her request. " **No**." He flatly declined, smirking ever so slightly as he watched the brat deflate slightly. "It's _your_ quirk, so it should be _your_ problem." He added for good measure, as he could practically feel her pout already.

"... _Hmph_ , whatever." She muttered, obviously put out by his rejection. "Can we have taiyaki for dinner, though? I'm suddenly craving them tonight." She asked him, grinning brightly.

"Sure, brat."

"Wha- _hey!_ I told you not to call me brat anymore, damn it!"

* * *

Toshinori doesn't know whether to be glad or _terrified_ at the sight of Sai and his previous mentor getting along.

He watched as Sai flipped him off- an action that _aghasted_ Toshi, but Gran Torino merely seemed to be amused by it -and the old man slapped her head in retaliation and decided that yeah, he should _seriously_ be worried about that.

Not to mention Sai's beginning to have a crude personality. What would people think if they found out (if they ever _did_ find out) that the number one hero's daughter has such attitude?!

He is definitely going to have a talk with her later, whether she likes it or not.

 _But for now..._

"Sai," He called out to her, before turning to his previous mentor. "S-sensei." He nodded, silently cursing himself for stuttering.

The spiky haired kid turned to him, blinking. "Oh, To-chin." She acknowledged, looking slightly surprised. "I didn't hear you come in." She sheepishly grinned, scratching her head.

"It's fine." He smiled at her, all the while looking at anywhere but Gran Torino. "I wasn't intending to be heard, anyway." He added, as she shrugged before approaching him.

She then suddenly punched him _**there**_ , making him stagger back and choke in surprise. "What _the-?!_ " He got cut off by Sai attempting to punch him again. But this time he was prepared, and caught her fist just in time.

Sai smirked at him, which left Yagi a sinking feeling in his gut. "A hero is always prepared for _anything_!" She exclaimed, as if quoting someone. His eyes widened, striking the statement as familiar.

Oh _. Oh no **. Oh no no no**_.

Horrified, he stared at his previous mentor, who just smirked at him.

 ** _Why?_**

Toshinori stared at Sai, then back at Gran Torino. "Why?" He whimpered, as Sai laughed gleefully at his misfortune. God help him, it's worse than what he had imagined, and that's saying something.

Sai has been corrupted. _May he now rest in peace._

And as if sensing his dread, Sai blinked up at him, grinning lazily. "Aw, don't worry 'bout me, worry 'bout yourself." She reassured, which only did the opposite of its intended effect.

Ysgi then blearily looked at her ( _daughter_ , his mind whispers) as she stared back. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna do it everyday." She added, smiling brightly. "I'll only do it when the old man's around." She whispered while winking playfully, discreetly jabbing a thumb at Gran Torino.

Whether he noticed that or not was beyond him. Either way, Yagi himself doesn't really want to find out.

"-So I trained with oji-san in order to control my quirk-"

 _Wait, **what?!**_

"Without my _permission_?!" He rounded on her, as she flinched at his suddenly sharp tone. Yagi's eyes softened, finally noticing her sorry state (dirty clothes, ink stains and _oh god was that a **bruise** on her elbow-_). "... _Sorry_ , I was just worried." He mumbled, as Sai looked so ashamed with herself.

Toshi internally kicked himself for screaming at her.

Sai looked up at him, twiddling with her thumbs nervously. "Are you mad at me?" She asked him with such a small voice that his heart almost broke into two.

"No, no. I'm not mad, I'm _worried_ , Sai." He smiled reassuringly at her, wiping away the grime on her cheek. "You and I both know the _danger_ of your quirk. Of course I'd be surprised if you used it without my knowledge." Yagi said, as he noticed the his words soothed Sai slightly.

She then straightened up, rubbing her glossy eyes. "Heh, I had oji-san to help me though. So I got off with just a _few_ injuries." She said, as he nodded.

"Yes, I noticed that." He muttered. "Are you _sure_ you're fine, though?" He asked her, as she waved off his worry.

"I'm fine. The bruises don't hurt anymore."

Still, they would have to treat that at home later.

"As much as I hate to break up your intense conversation there," Gran Torino's voice cut in, slicing the tension like knife through butter. "But I'd like to have a word with you _in private_ , Toshinori." He said, smiling at him as a shudder ran through his spine.

He gulped. Well, _so much_ for leaving Sai alone with the old man.

* * *

 _'I don't know what they were talking about, but I sure as hell don't wanna know.'_ Sai thought with a raised eyebrow, as she saw Toshinori come out of the building, looking thoroughly traumatized.

But alas, curiosity won her as always.

"What happened back there?" Sai asked the number one hero in a bewildered tone. "You look like you just saw **Death** himself." She remarked, as he stared at her with his piercing blue eyes.

He then breathed out a sigh of nervousness, staring blankly ahead. "Well, I might as well _have_."

 _ **...What the hell did that mean?!**_

"You'll know when you faced _his_ wrath." He muttered forebodingly, shuddering as Sai stared at the man she thought to be the strongest incredulously.

Well, Sai certainly didn't thought that she'd see the day where the Symbol of Peace (with all the smiles and shit) _quaking in fear_ at the mere presence of his previous mentor.

"I'm pretty sure that whatever he said..." Sai said as she thought of countless things the old man could've said to Yagi, "...wasn't that bad." She reassured him, as he quickly denied her statement.

Honestly, to think that this was the man who almost made her _cry_ earlier.

She patted his back in am attempt to comfort him. "Uh... There _there_?" She comforted, slightly unsure of her words. "It's okay, uh..." Sai thought up of some things that would snap Toshinori out of his irrational fear of Gran Torino. So far, she has only thought up of some insults.

Finally having enough of the gloomy pro hero after a few minutes, Sai stomped her feet onto the ground loudly, gaining his attention. "Damn it, To-chin! _You're so uncool!_ " She said, intentionally jabbing him with insults as those were the only things she's currently good at. "And here I thought that the number one hero wouldn't be afraid of _anything_." She slyly remarked, as Toshi perked up at the word ' _afraid_.'

 **"What are you talking about?!"** Toshinori suddenly changed into his heroic persona, complete with his large form and everything. **"I have nothing to fear!"** He exclaimed with his booming laugh, suddenly picking up Sai and hefted her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

 _What the hell that was **too fast-**_

"Put me _down_!" She struggled against his hold, as he merely laughed at her (pathetic) attempts to escape. "People are gonna see us, you idiot! Do you want them to draw the wrong conclusions!?" She screamed at him, as he paused to consider her words.

He _leaped_ into the sky.

" _ **WHAT THE FUCK-**_ " Sai screamed before getting cut off by Toshi- er, All Might covering her mouth to muffle her screams. "What the- _why are we flying in the air?_ " She asked him while looking anywhere but down, her voice cracking.

He stared at her. Sai stared back. She noticed that he suddenly had eyebrows. Best not to question it.

"...I'm _All Might_." He slowly articulated, as if that explained everything.

Sai rolled her eyes. "Yes, I've gathered that much- _now put me down!_ " She screamed, as she desperately tried to claw herself out of Toshi's iron grip.

Bad idea on her part.

"Wha- _Hey!_ Stop struggling or you'll fall!" Toshi warned, as she froze and slowly looked down, before slightly relaxing from his grip. She's still rigid, though and all she wants right now is to get down _god fucking damn it._

Yagi, as if sensing her tenseness, tried to ease her. "Don't worry, only a few minutes left before we'll get home."

...That did _not_ reassure her whatsoever.

Help her. She ain't gonna survive this.

 _ **Fuck.**_

* * *

"Oh sweet Jesus how I've _missed_ you, floor!" Sai exclaimed melodramatically, jumping out of Toshinori's arms and immediately flopping down the smooth, soft carpet.

Toshinori sweatdropped at her drama. She was just too ratchet for her own good, especially when he's in her presence. "It actually wasn't that bad, was it?" He asked her incredulously, as she stared him as if he had grown two heads.

"...Did you seriously just think that a normal child wouldn't be freaking out if they were somehow flying in the air?" She retorted, squinting at him as he blinked.

"Well," He shrugged, "You're not really normal, so..." The blonde sheepishly grinned, as Sai pouted at his statement.

She raised an eyebrow, finally getting up from her spot on the floor. "That's a pretty _harsh_ thing to say to your daughter." Sai remarked, holding up a hand to her chest while feigning hurt. "Pft, whatever. Enough banting right now, I wanna sleep already." She held up her hands in the air, waiting for him to pick her up.

Yagi sighed. "Alright, alright." He picked her up, slightly grunting. "Let's get you to bed now, you still have school tomorrow." He said, as Sai groaned at the mention of _school_.

"Uegh, you didn't have to remind me of that _wretched_ place." She whined, as he chuckled.

"Well sucks to be you then." Toshinori said, pretending to empathize with her. Although to be honest, he was just amused at her reaction. "That so called wretched place is going to be the place you're going at for three more years." He teased as she frowned at him adorably.

Sai merely remained silent, sticking out her tongue at him childishly in response.

* * *

Sai woke up to the smell of something burning.

...Toshi overcooked breakfast again, _didn't he?_

With a suppressed yawn, Sai tiredly made her bed and silently made her way to the kitchen, her footsteps light and quiet.

Alas, she was (unfortunately) right.

"...The hell are you trying to achieve, To-chin?" Sai dubiously asked him, raising a skeptical eyebrow at the black plump of what was supposed to be bacon. "If your trying to create poison, _congratulations_." She added dryly, as the black mass started to smoke.

To-chin, noticing the alarming amount of smoke coming from the poiso- _food_ , quickly put it out. He then faced her, his face unamused.

Toshinori flicked her forehead, as Sai clutched it in slight pain, frowning. "What was that _for_?" She whined, pouting as Yagi huffed and ushered her to the table.

" _That_ ," Toshinori said as he pulled out something from the fridge- it was the leftover pizza last night, why didn't he just reheat that oh my god -and put it in the microwave, then punching in the right buttons as the pizza reheated itself. "That was for the insult at my cooking. And this," He flicked her forehead again, this time with more force, "Is for the foul language. I don't tolerate those, Sai." He admonished her, as she stuck her tongue out in response, but nodded.

Sai then stared at the microwave, as it beeped, signalling that the pizza had finished heating. "To be fair, though. I was telling the truth about your... _uh_ , non-existent cooking skills." She dryly retorted, as Toshinori merely rolled his eyes at her remark.

"Doesn't stop me from trying to cook for you." Was his reply as he took the pizza out and set it on the table. "Now eat, you still have to go to school later." The blond said, as Sai blinked in slight surprise at his former statement, before groaning at the mention of school.

" _ **Uuuugh**_."

"Stop whining, you're almost late for school."

That shut Sai up.

* * *

Iida stared at his friend's- _best friend?_ Does Sai consider him the same? -terrible state. And when he meant terrible, Tenya meant that Sai was unmotivated to go to school.

So he decided to do the motivation for her.

He patted her on the head (a thing that seems to be annoying Sai greatly, Iida noticed) as she groaned and swatted it away. "What do you want, Tenya?" She muttered sleepily, squinting at him as he frowned and put his hands on his hips.

"You shouldn't look so bored this early in the morning, Sai!" He exclaimed, as she rolled her eyes and attempted to go back to her nap. However, Iida stopped her by patting her head again. "You look so sleepy, Sai-"

"No shit, Sherlock." The shortie muttered in annoyance.

"Maybe you should rest for a bit?" He suggested out of concern, as he finally noticed the dark rings underneath the black haired girl's eyes. How could her parents- _assuming_ she had one -not notice it was beyond him.

Sai sniffed. "That was what I was _attempting_ to do, Ten-chin." She slowly said, before muttering darkly, " _Well, until you interrupted my sweet nap_."

Iida sweat dropped, feeling slightly guilty. "Uh, sorry then." He apologized sheepishly, as Sai merely yawned and went back to her nap.

He sighed. Well, so much for motivation.

There was a crash, and then someone screaming. Iida, being the earnest person he is, immediately went to the scene, attempting to calm everyone down as he assessed the situation.

Somehow, amidst the noise, he noticed that Sai once glanced at him- as if _concerned_ -before looking back quickly as if trying not to get noticed.

Iida smiled. Well, at least she cares somewhat.

He could live with that.

 **CRASH!** "Wha- _hey, **Yuri-san!** _Stop violating Takeshi-kun's personal space!"

Er, _maybe_.

* * *

 _Why must everyone in the classroom be so noisy and chatty?_

Sai groaned, burying her head on the desk. Iida, although feeling the same sentiment as her, remained composed and merely tried to admonish their rowdy classmates, which consisted of odd jerky arm movements and motivational speeches.

So, _uh. Not_ so composed, actually. Either way, his speech still didn't work out, an they were left with sugar high children using their quirks to cause chaos.

 _Discord would be proud_ , Sai mused wryly, as she stared at one of her classmates swinging _on the ceiling fan._

She idly wondered how the faculty hadn't heard the class yet. Ah, whatever. Might as well doodle some stuff.

Little did Sai know, this was a particular time where her quirk is going haywire, as it hasn't been used in a while. 'In a while' being less than twenty four hours.

So shit _obviously_ went crazy.

Sai yelped as she was assaulted by her drawing, this time the artwork being a derpy looking bird that she dubbed as ' _birb_.'

"God fucking _damn it_!" She yelled quite loudly, as all her classmates continued on their conquest of chaos, too preoccupied to stare at her as well as to hear in her foul use of language. "Stop pecking at me you _shitty_ bird!"

Iida, who noticed her, gaped, seemingly horrified at her friend's imprudence. "Sai!" He yelled, attempting to hit her on the head until he saw the rather poorly drawn bird. " **What**."

"This is what I've been _telling_ you, ass!" Sai seethed, still trying to swat birb away. "Stop assaulting me, damn it!" She then focused her attention at birb, yelling at it.

 _'Stupid bird! Wish it didn't exist!'_ Sai thought in annoyance, wincing as birb managed to get a good scratch.

And just like that, the drawing froze, then fell down to the floor with a loud smack.

Silence.

"... _What?_ " Sai tilted her head, genuinely confused.

The feeling was shared among her classmates too, as they somehow heard the loud sound, turning around as they saw a bird drawn rather poorly on the ground, with their resident 'cool kids' surrounding said drawing.

One question ran through all of their minds. _What the **heck** just happened?_

Iida was first to move on from the initial confusion, immediately checking on Sai. "Are you okay?" He asked in concern, taking her scratched hand gently. "I saw you get scratched by your _uh_ , intricate artwork?" He said, unsure of what to describe the drawing as.

Sai waved his flattery off. "Don't worry, I know that bird was _terribly_ drawn."

He blinked. "Uh, right." He then pulled her out of the classroom, as they both ignored the hushed whispers of their classmates as they tried to figure out how their relationship works. "C'mon, let's get you treated to the nurse's office."

As they walked through the hallway, Sai couldn't help but ponder.

To be honest, she doesn't know how their relationship works either. Does Tenya consider her a _best friend?_

"Uh, Ten-chin." She spoke up to the bespectacled boy, looking up at him. "Why are you doing this? It's not like it's your _responsibility_ , right?" She asked him, genuinely puzzled at his intention.

He stared at her, smiling slightly. "Consider this as... an _apology_ for interrupting your nap earlier." He answered, as she smirked haughtily.

"Damn right _it_ is."

"... Now, come on. We still have to make up an excuse as to how you got a big scratch on your arm." Iida said, as they finally reached the office.

Sai stared at him with half-lidded eyes, seemingly looking as if she couldn't care less. "Just say I got scratched by a stupid branch, or something." She grunted, before entering the office, with Iida following right behind her.

"Erm, _okay_... If you say so."

* * *

AN: woops sorry for the rather boring ending. dont worry tho, next chapter is deffo gonna be more interesting!


	12. Trainwreck

AN: good news: my laptop is fixed. bad news: the battery is broken. conclusion: laptop is still unusable. Also, im making a script for our school play so if i update later than usual it doesn't mean that i died lmao- congats to this story for having **13k reads** woop

* * *

"I seriously _can't believe_ I've been subjected to kidnapping _this early_ in my life." Sai sarcastically muttered to herself, as she was tied to a post with another person beside her.

Said person, who seem to have the same age as Sai, rolled her eyes. "Please shut up, it's not like I wanted this either." She said, rolling her eyes before staring at Sai. "How'd you get here anyway?" She asked Sai curiously.

"I went through the wrong alley, then something about selling my organs, or whatever." She answered, shrugging as the blond haired girl beside her stared at her incredulously.

You might be wondering how Sai got into this situation.

You see, all of this started when Sai got off the wrong alley, just as she stated earlier in the chapter.

* * *

"Bye, Ten-chin! Try not to die!" She yelled after her best friend, cackling internally as the bespectacled boy turned around to face her across the street, annoyance painted on his face.

Tenya, still taking her bait (seriously, she's done this to him for like, _six times_ already), yelled back at her, frowning. "That's not how you're supposed to send your regards to a friend, Sai!" He reprimanded, doing weird gestures with his hands as Sai snickered.

"Sure it is." She retorted jokingly, smirking. "Anyway, I'm gonna go now, I still have to meet my dad at his workplace." She said, waving at him then running towards what she thought was the direction to All Might's Agency Office.

Tenya blinked, before asking, "Wait, you have a _father_?" He asked at thin air, disbelief tinting his voice.

But Sai was long gone.

The spiky haired girl kept running, until she paused and looked around her surroundings. Um, where is she?

"...Please don't tell me I'm lost." Sai muttered, frowning as she entered one of the abandoned alleys in an attempt to find someplace familiar. " _...I am._ "

A voice suddenly cut in, startling Sai. "Well well _well_ , what do we have here?"

"It seems that someone has stumbled upon our territory." Another voice replied, as Sai frantically looked around for the source of the voices.

Oh god, _please_ don't tell her that she'd somehow stumbled upon a sketchy alley.

"Uh, sorry for trespassing, I guess?" Sai apologized uncertainly, slowly backing away from the narrow alley. "I'm just gonna _go_ now..." She said, laughing nervously, then freezing as her back hit something hard.

She turned around to face a man grinning creepily at her. "You'll make a good fortune." He said, eyeing her body hungrily.

Her instincts kicking in, Sai immediately made a run for it, adrenaline pumping in her veins. "Oh god they're gonna _sell_ my organs!" She shrieked in pure terror, running away from the creepy guy before she was stopped by another man ( _the other voice_ , Sai realized with dread) who walked out of one of the narrow spaces.

"And where do you think you're going?"

Sai squeaked, fear crippling her immobile.

There was a loud thud, as darkness enveloped her.

* * *

"...I don't think I want to know." The girl beside Sai quietly said after a few moments of silence. "Still, what the heck? How'd we get here?" She asked herself before rambling more nonsense, as Sai sniffed before shaking her head.

She lightly kicked the blonde, making her shut up. "Uh, can you like, shut up? It's not helping my panic _whatsoever_." Sai deadpanned, as the girl blinked at her.

"Wait, you call _that_ panicking?" She asked in bewilderment.

Sai smiled wryly. "No, I call it the state of shock." She retorted sharply, finally snapping as she groaned and looked around. "Ugh, where the hell are all the pro heroes?" She grumbled, agitation dripping in her words. "Aren't they supposed to be rescuing us or some shit like that?"

"Also," The spiky haired girl turned her head back to the blonde kid, "Why the _fuck_ are you so calm right now?" She hissed, as the girl stared at her and attempted to hold her hands up in mock surrender, but failing as they're still tied up.

"Don't blame me," She said, pouting. "Blame my stupid quirk. Even if I wanted to panic, I couldn't because of my **Calm Mind**." She explained, as Sai sighed in frustration. "So what do we do now?"

Sai licked her chapped lips, attempting to assess the situation. She then narrowed her eyes, as she heard the sound of... seagulls? "Did- did you hear that?" Sai asked her fellow kidnapped, as she strained her ear to hear it.

"Actually... Yeah." She said after a while, narrowing her eyes. "Are we near the ocean? Like in the docks?" The blonde speculated, as Sai shrugged. "Maybe we're inside of one of the warehouses here." She suggested, as Sai shrugged once more.

Sai tried twisting her arm to free herself of the binds, but failed spectacularly as she only managed to inflict pain to herself. "I guess so," She said through gritted teeth, hissing in pain. "I mean, I do smell seawater from here." She added, before flickering her gaze down the floor. "Does that puddle look like seawater to you?" Sai questioned the blonde, as she stared back at her.

"...Do you _seriously_ think I would know what seawater specifically looks like?" The girl deadpanned, gesturing to her body with a flail. "Like, do you peg me as the aquatic type?"

Sai blinked, finally noticing that the girl had a rather... fancy dress. "Nice clothes you got there, it suits your hair." She commented wryly, as the girl laughed.

"Thank, but we really should get out of here," The blonde murmured, closing her blue eyes. "My parents must be so worried about me." She calmly remarked, as Sai froze at the mention of parents.

She threw her head back, groaning as her head hit the metal post. "Oh my god, _To-chin!_ " The spiky haired girl whispered, horrified.

The person beside her blinked in confusion. "To-chin?" She parroted, tilting her head.

Sai ignored her fellow kidnapped, too busy muttering theories to her self about how Toshinori would react to this. "-Worst case scenario, he would totally ban me from going outside _ever again_." were the last words she uttered, before she slumped back, staring blankly at nothing.

"...Ah, the trauma just kicked in." The blonde remarked, nodding sympathetically as she stared at the ceiling in boredom. "I wonder when mom's gonna notice my disappearance..."

* * *

Sai snapped out of it when a hand came in contact with her cheek rather harshly. "W-what?" She questioned in a daze, feeling slightly disoriented as she gazed around her.

A person suddenly came into view, beaming. "Oh, good. You're awake." She said, smiling as Sai remained confused. "The name's Natsu, by the way."

"What happened?" She asked the blonde, rubbing her wrist to rid of the slight pain. "I remembered... being tied up. With you." She said, before narrowing her eyes in suspicion. "How'd we get out?"

The girl hummed, pretending to think. "Well... You blanked out, and I simply formed a plan to untie ourselves." She said, and that was that.

They both walked out of the damp room cautiously and quietly, before coming across what seems to be a laboratory, seeing as it was full of boxes with strange equipments that should only be in an operation room.

 ** _Also, dead bodies._**

Sai was hit with a wave of nausea, holding her puke as she was _utterly_ disgusted at the sight. Natsu, meanwhile, remained her composure, although she was completely avoiding the bodies, not even sparing a glance at them.

"What the _actual_ fuck?" Sai whispered in complete bewilderment, before quickly grabbing Natsu's hand and running out of the room as fast as possible as a shudder ran down her spine.

This is too early to see a dead body, god damn it! And the worse, Sai herself knows that it was _killed!_

"That was very terrible." Natsu finally said after a few minutes, of silence as they tried to find the exit, all the while forgetting the gruesome sight they saw earlier. "I hope the spirits of those bodies moved on peacefully." She added, looking back at the room before cringing.

"I just hope I wouldn't have to see a killed person _again_." Sai muttered to herself, eyes glued to the ground as she released a breath she didn't know she was holding.

God, that was... _**terrifying**_. And that's an understatement.

"Let's just... forget that _ever_ happened, okay?" Sai said, although they both know that it was an unforgettable sight.

Sai tried to ignore the fact that she would soon be with those bodies if it wasn't for Natsu. Actually, come to think of it...

She turned to the blonde, who was busying herself by looking at her surroundings. "Uh... Thanks." Sai said, cringing as she realized that she probably didn't sound sincere.

Thankfully, Natsu found truthfulness in her words. "You're welcome." She replied, smiling at her as Sai smiled back, albeit weakly.

After a while, they found the exit. Or what they _think_ is the exit. So, good news?

Bad news is, the kidnappers- who looked way _too_ happy themselves, by the way -are within the perimeter of the large metal door.

Well, there goes plan A out of the window.

Time for plan B? _They don't even have one._

Improvise? _**Yeah, no.**_

"Um..." Sai turned to face Natsu, who looked like she had a plan. "Do you have a quirk? It could be a distraction." She suggested, as Sai frowned.

"...The chances for it to work are fifty-fifty." She finally answered, frowning. "Are we seriously going to _take_ the risk?" She asked the blonde incredulously, raising an eyebrow.

Said blonde licked her lips. "Well, if it means getting out of this wretched place, I'm game."

"Well then," Sai took a deep breath, taking a large permanent marker from the inner pocket of her overalls (she noticed that it's slightly covered in blood, _eugh_ ) and drew something on the ground.

"Please work." Sai pleaded, as she finally finished the drawing down to the last detail. She threw away the marker, seeing as it's already empty. Plus, there's always an extra, so no worries there.

...Silence.

Sharp intakes of breath were heard from them, as they saw the artwork emerge from the concrete floor. It was a mighty gray panther with black outlines, and Sai hoped that the drawing would be as fast as the real one.

Natsu quietly whistled, clearly impressed with the drawing. "Nice. Does it move as fast as the real one?" The brown eyed girl voiced out Sai's thought, as Sai herself shrugged uncertainly.

"I sure hope it does." She muttered to herself, as Natsu raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, here's the plan..."

* * *

Natsu finished the explanation, and the spiky haired girl thinks that her plan's pretty solid. Well, except for one thing.

She doesn't know whether she could do it _successfully_ or not. And what do do _after_ the plan.

Sai petted the animal, whispering commands into its ear as ink smudged her hand. "Well, here goes nothing." She muttered, and with that, the panther took off, slamming down the door and also destroying it in the process.

The two kidnappers whipped their heads towards the distraction, in which both of the kids took the opportunity to slowly but quietly sneak towards to what they think is the exit.

Meanwhile, the panther is quite fast in dodging the kidnappers' attacks, which seem to be heavily powered punches, and thrown knives.

Sai deduced that the first one must have some kind of strength quirk, while the other... she _isn't really sure_ what his quirk is.

"And _where_ do you think you're going?" The knife thrower suddenly appeared out of thin air, eliciting a gasp from Sai. But Natsu merely smirked, as she shouted a command.

" **Now, Sai!** "

And as if on autopilot, Sai immediately released a barrage of hummingbirds (which were the same color as her skin, she idly noticed) drawn from various parts of her body, assaulting the kidnapper with pecks as they took the distraction to escape once again. Sai idly noted that Natsu somehow managed to pick up a wooden plank while running, but otherwise did not comment on it.

"So... What _now_?" Sai asked in between breaths, finally feeling the effects of using her quirk simultaneously. "I don't think... I can hold much longer." She gasped out, staggering behind Natsu as the blonde looked at her in alarm.

Her eyes widened, before grabbing Sai's hand and dragging her. " _C'mon..._ " She grunted, as Sai seemed to be getting heavier and heavier.

"Get back here!" The knife guy screamed from behind them, as he chased after them, the strength guy just right behind him. They were both sporting bloodthirsty grins, which did nothing but send chills down the girls' spines.

Sai whimpered, as she realized with dread that she can't feel her ink creations moving anymore.

Fuck, she's gonna die. _They're both gonna die._

"Y'know," Natsu said beside her as they kept running, face seemingly untired although her body showing otherwise, "I actually didn't expect to die from _this_." She said, before throwing the plank right into the kidnappers and then running even faster. "I expected to die from old age, not kidnapping."

Sai snorted, her face devoid of any emotion other than resignation. She dreamed of that too in her past life, and look where it got her.

 _Fucking reincarnation and fucking logic, God._

She wheezed from tiredness, doing her best to run and never look back because _oh god the guy's throwing **knives** at her-_

She ducked, rolling down as she flopped helplessly against the floor, her head hitting the concrete rather harshly. Natsu, who was forced to let go of her hand, attempted to help her up, but was only dragged by the hair by one of the kidnappers. Which one, Sai didn't care as they were gonna _die_ anyway.

" _Let go of me_ you fucking ass!" She struggled against his hold, as Sai swore she saw a glimpse of fear reflect from the blonde's eyes, but then quickly replaced by stubborn determination. "I won't let you murder us you bastards!"

Is Sai could, she'd applaud at the kid's extensive use of the human language. But alas, her head is spinning so much that she dreads that she might have a concussion, and her back was pinned down by the other kidnapper's foot.

She hissed as she heard a crack, and thought that _yep_ , first bone broken in her second life, there we go. Sai didn't even stop her tears from flowing down, as she's just in so _much_ pain (and tired _, oh god she's so fucking **tired** of this_) that she can barely move a muscle anymore.

Anymore force and Sai feared that she'd black out.

"Gargh!" There was a thud, and then more screams of pain. Sai, though in excruciating pain, managed to catch a glimpse of the one causing the shouts. All she managed to see was a man with red eyes who was clad in black, before she blacked out-

-but then fucking Natsu slapped her hard _again_.

"Wake up you dumbass!" She screamed right into her ear, as Sai winced at the shrill sound. "You have a concussion, so don't you dare sleep on me!"

Sai blinked blearily. Ah, so she was right.

"I'll take care of her now," She heard the man said, as Sai felt being carried bridal style. She struggled to open her eyes, and through the struggle, she managed to get a good look at her saviour.

She slightly blushed when she noticed that the man was attractive. She also looked to be the same age as Sei-chin, if not older.

(God damn it Sai, this is _not_ the time for having crushes you idiot!)

Sai sighed tiredly. Well, so much for a peaceful day for her.

When Sai deemed that the dizziness had stopped and the pain had slightly subsided, she promptly went out like a light.

Unknown to her, Natsu's eyes widened and she attempted to slap her again, before getting stopped by their hero.

* * *

When Aizawa scouted the perimeter of the villains' base, he _didn't_ expect them to have hostages, much less _children_.

God, he was _so_ sick of this kind of shit. This wasn't part of the report he was given god damn it.

But then again he is a hero, and heroes have to be prepared for _anything_ , no matter how utter _bullshit_ that phrase says. So Eraserhead will have to just snap his complaints shut and do his fucking job.

...He needs rest after this, or preferably a drink. Maybe both, who knows. Two hostage situations in a row is just asking for a heart attack, to be honest.

So when he finally rendered the kidnappers immobile (just cancelling the strength based villain's quirk made him pretty much useless while Aizawa already dealt with knife users, so it was a fairly one-sided battle in his favor) and then tying them both up to prevent escape, the black clad hero immediately checked onto the blonde kid, who seemed to be sporting only mild injuries. Thank god for small miracles.

Aizawa then took one good look at the other kid, then decided that yep, the kid definitely needs medical attention _right now._

After quickly calling the police and an ambulance, he approached the kid and picked him up, noting that he is actually a _she_ , and that her breathing is uneven and she's clutching her side rather tightly. Aizawa checked if she had any serious injuries, only to find out that the kid had gained a concussion and has a broken rib or two.

Well, his day has just gone from bad to worse. Aizawa feels slightly bad for the poor kid, as he kept hearing small whimpers of pain from her. Not that he could blame her, really. It is rather _painful_ for a kid to have a broken bone.

Not long after, Eraserhead, who was carrying the boy-that's-actually-a-girl, had exited the building with the blonde kid, who introduced herself as 'Natsu,' in tow.

They waited in silence, as after a while, police and ambulance sirens came into earshot in the distance, becoming more and more louder as they finally arrived at the scene.

Aizawa didn't hesitate into handing the spiky haired kid onto the paramedics, as they gave him a grateful nod in return. Natsu was also scooped up by on of the medics, and they were both safely inside the ambulance, immediately being sent to the nearest hospital.

The quirk-cancelling hero sighed, before turning to the officer in charge. Well, so much for that.

He's _not_ cut out for rescuing missions, damn it. Seriously, he could have fucked it up if it wasn't for the villains' own incompetency. But it's not like he's complaining really- okay, maybe he was a _little_ bit, but still. He was glad that he'd immediately ambushed the villains or else there'd be more blood on the floor right now.

... _Honestly_ , they should have sicked another hero to this job.

* * *

"...Um, she's been like this ever since she woke up, Mr. Sai's Dad."

"Thank you for looking an eye out for her, child. I think your parents are already waiting for you outside."

"You're welcome, Mr. Sai's Dad!"

Sai heard the sound of a door closing, but she didn't pay that any mind. More importantly, she was too busy mulling over the fact that she was kidnapped.

 _Holy shit, she was **kidnapped**._

Sai let out a choked laugh, earning herself an alarmed and worried look from Toshinori. "Fucking hell, I almost _died_." She stated, smiling in disbelief before letting out a laugh again.

Toshinori frowned at her, which left Sai to wonder if she had done something wrong to elicit such reaction from him. Well, to be fair, she did get herself get kidnapped and almost _killed_ , an action that would make everyone frown.

Hah, _kidnapped_. Sai thought that's **_surreal_**.

A lone tear rolled down her frozen yet smiling face, which seemed to have made Toshinori fuss around her. "Shh, it's okay. You're safe now, Sai." He said, patting her gently at the back. It was a sentiment that made Sai turn her smile into a cry. "Wha- _it's okay now, Sai!_ Please stop crying, it's alright now!" Toshi soothed her, as Sai reduced herself into a sniffling mess.

"I-I'm not crying," Sai denied, contradicting herself as she attempted to rub her eyes to get rid of the tears. "I'm not a crybaby, so I'm not," She paused, sniffling. " _Crying_."

Toshinori's eyes softened, which only made Sai cry harder. "I'm _not_ crying, damn it! Stop worrying for me!" She wailed, burying her face into her hands as Toshi looked on helplessly. "Stop making me feel _weak_ about myself, damn it!" She yelled, shocking Yagi.

The room was only filled with Sai's sobs, before Toshinori patted her head firmly yet gently. "You're _not_ weak, Sai." He said, as Sai paused to look at him doubtfully.

"I'm not?" She asked, frowning. "But I got myself hurt." She said, her frown deepening. "I can't even manifest my quirk right, just like what my classmates gossiped." She added with a bitter smile, as Toshinori sighed at her.

Surely To-chin can't bullshit his way out of this, Sai thought with a humorless grin.

He merely stared right at her dull blue eyes, as she stared right back unblinkingly. "You. Are. Not. Weak." He firmly stated, jabbing a finger at her forehead with each enunciated word, as she slightly winced at each contact. "I don't care what others say about you, but you are one of the strongest people I've ever met, Sai." Toshinori said, to which Sai laughed wryly.

"Yeah, _right_." She snorted, shaking her head. She was weak, and that's that.

Heck, she couldn't even stay _alive_ in her past life, and this man is telling her that she's strong? _Laughable_ , really.

But still...

"Hah, thanks for attempting to lift my spirits, To-chin." She said, fiddling with her thumbs. "I really appreciate it."

He heaved out a sigh of relief, much to her irk. Seriously, was her reaction _that_ bad? It wasn't like she was _traumatized_ or anything... Well, maybe a bit, but she already got over it... kind of.

Maybe after a week, she'd be back to normal... But that honestly depends on how she'll manage herself, to be honest.

Plus, she wasn't kidnapped before on her past life so... _yeah_. Recovery will probably take longer than usual.

Now Sai could only hope that she wouldn't be threatened to steal and be caught, _again_. Last time had _not_ been fun.

But back to the subject at hand. "Um, if you don't mind, I'd like to attend class after I'm discharged, which is the day after tomorrow, I think." Sai requested, as Toshinori tilted his head at her. "There's no actual reason for me to not go to school, so yeah." She added, shrugging.

(Sai just wants to distract herself to be honest.)

But Yagi looked doubtful, as he kept staring at her dubiously, with a hint of concern. "Yes, you're going to be discharged the day after tomorrow." He confirmed, nodding. "Are you sure though...? I'd rather prefer you rest yourself first, before interacting with others..." He said, as Sai hummed.

"I'll be fine..." She reassured him, "I think." She added as an afterthought. Toshinori didn't seem reassured but half-heartedly agreed.

"If someone does something that made you uncomfortable during school, I'm heading straight to your classroom to pick you up." He sternly muttered, as Sai raised an eyebrow at his exaggeration.

Or, at least, Sai _thinks_ it's an exaggeration.

She... honestly wouldn't know what to do if that will _actually_ happen. Groan in embarrassment, perhaps?

So instead of questioning Toshi about his condition (threat?) Sai merely nodded uncertainly. "Uh, right. I'll keep that in mind?" She said, narrowing her eyes in slight uncertainty.

Eh. It's not like her classmates will do anything triggering, honestly.

* * *

Sai blinked.

Huh, they're surprisingly... _civil_ to her. As if they knew the situation, but chose to not talk about it within her earshot.

(They didn't know what she _saw_.)

"Iida, did you know what happened a few days ago?" She asked her trusty best friend with a raised eyebrow, noticing that he's (so _painfully_ and **_obviously_** ) trying his best to distract her from something by giving her treats.

Like, seriously. The moment she sat on her desk he _immediately_ showered her table with candies. But since there was something one Sai's mind at that time- it was Natsu, if anyone was wondering -she didn't respond to him all, which only led him to even trying harder to get her attention.

Tenya succeeded when he threw a chocolate bar straight into her face on accident. He immediately got a surprised punch to the face in return.

(Her mind whispered to _stop lying to yourself_ and **_admit that you're scared already-_** )

Actually, speaking of Natsu, Sai was glad that the girl wasn't that much affected (to be honest she wasn't affected _at all_ ) by the incident, and they've been in touch with each other (or it was more like Sai finally got her hands on the beautiful thing called _Internet_ and somehow found out about Natsu- apparently her mum was a famous quirk specialist) ever since that. The thing they've mostly talked about were their own quirks, some strange hobbies, and of course, their plan on finding out (read: stalking) their mysterious hero's identity.

The bespectacled boy's answer snapped her out of her thoughts. "Erm, a bit." Tenya said, his face screaming uncomfortableness. "The teacher told us that we shouldn't talk about it, though." He added quickly, as Sai hummed in agreement.

( _But did they know about the **slaughter room**?_ Her mind screamed.)

"So, did I miss anything while I was gone?" Sai curiously asked Tenya, as the boy immediately launched into the list of things she missed, looking relieved at the change of subject.

Not much happened after that, although Sai had some episodes where she just blankly stared at nothing in particular ( _bloodblood blood inks andblood_ ) with a tear rolling down her cheek. Iida looked at her with worry, an action that she had very much appreciated, while the others pretended they saw nothing. The teachers made sure of that. Other than those, not much else.

She got to meet Tensei during dismissal time, the now pro hero looking immensely worried after finding out what happened to her. Sai didn't know how he knew about that, but assumed that Tenya probably told him.

"I told you I'm fine already, Sei-chin." Sai huffed, crossing her arms while frowning.

(She's fine she's definitely okay and _notfreaking out about the factthat she sawfucking deadpeople **cuttopieces** by psychopaths-_)

"Being kidnapped while almost dying in the process was _not_ fine, Sai." Tensei rebuked back, as he was as well frowning- well it was more like an adorable pout in her opinion.

Tenya decided to not interfere in his brother's own worry fest, as he would probably do the same to Sai too. Well, not like the spiky haired girl knew that information.

They both soon left with the order (threat, she was _pretty_ sure it's a threat) of not leaving until your guardian arrived, because look what happened last time, you idiot.

( _Shecould'veendeduplikethos **deadbodies** -_)

Sai waved their silly worries off, but still followed their command.

And so she waited for about half an hour for Toshi to pick her up, but then he didn't. Instead, Tsukauchi-san came to get her.

Sai didn't know why, but she had a feeling that this situation is _very_ familiar.

"Ah, Nao-chin!" She acknowledged him in slight surprise, not at all expecting him to come here to school. "What're you doing here?" She asked him curiously, as he smiled at her.

He gestured for her to take his hand, then led her to a police car. Sai frowned at it for a moment, before turning back to him. "...I'm not in trouble, right?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, uncertainty lacing her voice.

( _Oh god are they gonna arrest her for not telling them the **bloodbath** -_)

He chuckled quietly, which didn't ease her unease one bit. "No, you're not in trouble, Sai." He answered her, as she sighed in relief. "We're just going to ask you a few more questions about the... incident, then we'll drop you off to your house." He said, as Sai blinked at him. "Well, if you don't mind that is." He added hastily, opening the door for her as she climbed inside. He then also slid beside her, closing the door with a click.

"I'm mostly okay now, so yeah. _Sure_." She shrugged, giving him a lazy thumbs up.

She honestly didn't really want to talk about it, but hey, if it's to help the police force in catching the bad guys- which they already did, by the way -then sure, she do it.

Plus, the sooner she'd talk about the situation with someone, the earlier for her to get rid of the horrific images planted in her mind.

( _Oh god the deadbodies mutilated **stabbed** cuttopieces why why **why** would someone do that ohgod they were **stabbedstabbedstabbed** just like **her** -_)

Sai took a deep breath to try to calm herself. It obviously didn't work.

( _Fuckwhatifsheendedupjustlikethose **deadpeople**_ -)

"Sai?" Tsukauchi asked her in concern, his face scrunched up in worry. "...Are you okay?" He asked in concern, cutting off her train of nightmarish thoughts.

"Actually..." Sai said in a small voice, sighing. "I- there's _something_ I should have told you in the last few days..."

And so she braced herself for the words she'll about to utter, and _smiled_.

Because smiling _always_ makes people believe that you're okay, even though you're definitely _not_.

Sai knows that it's bullshit, but that doesn't really stop her from doing it. After all, she just doesn't want everyone to worry about her. And she'd do _everything_ for that.

 _Even if it meant **lying** to them._

* * *

AN: i just remembered that i have a thesis due tomorrow and i haven't even thought of a title yet hahAHA KILL ME-


	13. Paranoia at Its Finest

AN: woopies late update lol sorry- I just graduated junior high! yes! also i passed on the entrance exam on our local university HAHAHA rip im gonna die-

 ** _WHO'S EXCITED ABOUT THE MOVIE?! I AM-_**

Also kouta is adorable anyone who say otherwise _I will fight u_

* * *

Sai's meeting with Tsukauchi... went well?

It's not like she hated it, she was just... astonished. Yeah, that's the word.

She's astonished that the man seemed to know more than he let on. Like the fact that he looked unsurprised when she spilled the beans about the _manslaughter_ (in which she is somehow getting over slowly but surely- the memory is already forever stuck in her mind so it's probably the best if she just starts getting used to it) that happened back in the warehouse. She had suspected that Natsu probably already told the guys though, and that they're just looking for confirmation.

In which she gave, of course.

After that little interrogation, she was dropped off into her home and was immediately greeted by the sight of Toshi being head locked into submission by none other than...

"Oji-san!" Sai brightly grinned after seeing her dad's terror teacher, who gave her a brief nod before continuing his torment onto poor Toshinori.

( _Was he worried?_ _ **Mad**_ _? Sai doesn't know._ )

Thankfully for him, Sai was there to save his day. "To-chin! Nao-chin asked me some questions about the kidnappers today!" She yelled quite loudly, garnering both the attention of the males.

It was amusing to see that their reactions were strikingly opposites.

"What?! Why was I not informed of this?!"

"Oh, that's nice. Did you tell them everything?"

Sai's mere response was a laugh.

"To answer Gran Torino's question, yeah," she said after calming a bit, flopping down on the couch tiredly. She yawned, comfortably leaning into her seat. "Also, to answer To-chin's question, it was kind of a rushed interrogation-"

" **Interrogation?!** " Toshi cut off, horrified.

"-but to me, it was just like chatting to an old friend about an incident you experienced." Sai finished, shrugging. "Not gonna lie, Nao-chin's pretty nice to talk to for an interrogator." She added as an afterthought.

"So, you completely fine now brat?" Gran Torino gruffly asked her, to which she pursed her lips.

She sighed deeply, ignoring Toshinori's worried look. "To be honest, I'm not really sure what to feel right now." Sai muttered, giving them both a sardonic smile.

Ah, well. She'll eventually get over it.

 _Hopefully._

* * *

Next day, a small progress happened, if you could even call it that.

Sai discreetly opened her phone- "To call me whenever you need something," said Toshinori, the _only_ man who would _willingly_ give a seven year old a phone without any thoughts of the consequences whatsoever -when she saw that the teacher finally stopped staring at her like a hawk.

( _Are they worried? They're worried. Should she_ _ **be worried**_ _?_ )

Honestly, her teachers could be so... _troublesome_ sometimes.

 _ **Hinata Sai**_ _is online._

 _ **Natsu Mendel**_ _is online._

 _Natsu set her nickname to_ _ **Eraserhead_Trash**_ _._

Sai blinked. Well, that was oddly and conveniently strange.

 _Sai set her nickname to_ _ **SAIcopath**_ _._

She snickered at her own nickname, feeling quite proud of it even though it was in English. And that Natsu probably doesn't get it.

( _Jokes. Jokes make you happy and_ _ **not worry**_ _. Yes. Happy is good._ _ **Everything is okay**_ _._ )

 _ **Eraserhead_Trash**_ _: Nice pun mate_

 _ **Eraserhead_Trash**_ _: also hello_

Sai blinked. Well, that was surprising. She supposed that the blonde was actually smarter than she looks. Although it's probably just because Natsu's dad, who's American, or so she's told.

 _ **SAIcopath:**_ _er, thanks? lol_

 _ **SAIcopath:**_ _anyway wyd rn?_

 _ **Eraserhead_Trash:**_ _uhg, school. can't believe im stuck with idiots._

Sai rolled her eyes. And she thought she was the only one suffering from the onslaught of children and their small brains.

 _ **SAIcopath:**_ _ikr? Anyway gtg, teacher's lookin at me suspiciously_

She sent the message and turned off her phone, before looking at the teacher, listening with indifference. Ugh, why is it taking so hard for children to understand basic English grammar?

( _Why is time moving so slowly? She wants to_ _ **get over it**_ _already._ )

"It's pronounced _'Ree-Lee,'_ not _'Ree-ri.'_ " Sai muttered to herself, as she listened to her classmates stumbling over simple sentences in English. Heck, even Tenya was struggling in pronouncing it too.

Sai, who was too tired to care, didn't make any effort to read at all, seeing as the teacher probably wouldn't notice her anyway. And well, if the teacher did, maybe she'd pretend to read.

"Hinata-san," The teacher droned out, as Sai sat up straight at the mention of her name.

She blinked. "Uh, yes Sensei?"

"Would you please read sentence number four, since you're already _oh-so-fluent_ in English that you hadn't bothered to read along with your classmates?" Her teacher sarcastically said, as her classmates snickered at her while Tenya looked at her with disapproval.

( _What? Is he implying something?_

 _...Was he_ _ **upset**_ _at her for not participating? Or is it something more?_ )

Sai blushed in embarrassment and slight anger, standing up while grumbling obscenities under her breath as she stared at the sentence assigned for her to read. "Uh, right. _'I am happy to know that you liked my gift.'_ " She read fluently in English, raising an eyebrow at the sentence.

Oh well, whatever. As long as it helps children learn.

The teacher looked slightly put out by her clear pronunciation, but immediately recovered as he asked her, "Ah, do you know what the sentence means, Hinata-san?"

Sai stared at him unblinkingly. "The speaker is voicing out their happiness to the one who received their gift and liked it." She deadpanned, getting feeling that this somehow happened in her previous life too.

( _'He picked on you because_ _ **you're weak**_ _,'_ her mind whispered, to which she resolutely ignored.)

Why is it that teachers always like to pick onto her?

 _'Because you always look like you're uninterested in everything!'_ A voice that suspiciously sounds like Tenya screamed inside her mind. She gladly listened to that voice.

"Er, can I sit down now Takeda-sensei?" She asked her teacher uncertainly, as said teacher looked at her dumbfounded, before nodding.

And so Sai sat down, and the disgruntled teacher moved on with his lesson.

( _ **Why isn't the day over yet?!**_ )

* * *

"...Sai," Tenya laid a hand on her shoulder, as she hummed in acknowledgement. "You know that you could always talk to me about everything, right?"

Sai didn't know what to do with that information. "Uh, okay? I'll..." She muttered, narrowing her eyes. "...keep that in mind, I suppose?"

( _Does he also think she's weak? But she's okay._

 _ **She has to be okay.**_ )

Tenya nodded at her, apparently satisfied at her response. "Well then, if you'll excuse me, I have to go do some errands for our teacher." And with that he took off.

Sai snorted; Of course he'd continue to be the teacher's pet.

( _At least he has_ _ **something**_ _to distract with. Does she? She has her drawings, but was that enough?_

 _Was that enough to stabilize her, to_ _ **make sure that everything is fine**_ _?_ )

She frowned, glancing at her other classmates who seem to be ignoring her like the plague. Now _that_ is strange.

After all, she's fine already. There's absolutely nothing wrong with her.

 _Nothing at all._

* * *

"Excuse me?" Sai asked, raising a hand as the teacher raised an eyebrow. "Uh, can I go to the bathroom," she requested, before adding, "please?"

( _ **Calm**_ _. Why is she feeling strangely calm?_ )

Her teacher sighed, muttering something incoherent before nodding and motioning to the door as Sai made an exit to the room, but not before stealing a small glance at her classmates, who seem to be curious and/or worried.

Sai wondered about the latter, as there's really nothing to be worried about. Oh well, they're probably just thinking about the how hard the lessons were.

As she finally reached the bathroom and entered one of the stalls, she can't help but... think.

 _Weak_. No matter how much she thinks she's not, _she is weak._ Why is she so pathetic?

Why does she feel helpless and vulnerable?

( _Why is she thinking about this calmly, and not sobbing uncontrollably like she's_ _ **supposed**_ _to?_ )

Sai snorted at her thoughts; maybe it's because she's a coward. _A spineless piece of shit._

As she was about to exit, Sai heard the bathroom door opening, followed by some footsteps, which made her pause.

"You know," she heard one of them say, "I kind of feel bad about that third grader kid who got kidnapped. Must be pretty hard for them right now."

Sai sighed quietly. _'God damn it, what the fuck did I do to deserve this attention? Even the other classes know about it.'_ She thought bitterly, tightly gripping the door handle. _'Seriously, what part of_ _ **confidential**_ _do they not understand?'_

She heard the other one snort, which made Sai raise an eyebrow. "Yeah, right." The student said, as Sai detected disbelief in her voice. "Do you seriously believe that, Haru-chan? I bet it's just some dumb kid spreading rumors to gain some attention," she paused, before adding, "attention that they're _having_ right now."

Sai silently snorted, _'Hah, I wish that horrifying experience was a_ _ **rumor**_ _.'_ She thought, grinning wryly.

"...Yeah, probably." Sai heard the first one sigh. "I can't believe someone would lie like that, though!"

They both talked about other things for a while, before presumably exiting the bathroom, as Sai opened the bathroom stall and wash her hands.

She stared at her reflection, which honestly looked shitty in her opinion. " _Haah_ , I feel so sick right now." Sai muttered, running a hand through her face as she grinned hysterically. "Honestly, what the fuck is wrong with me?" She whispered to herself, laughing hoarsely.

Sai doesn't know what to feel right now.

What is wrong with her?

"What am I supposed to feel?" She asked herself as she faced her reflection, who stared back at her with a troubled expression. "I know I'm supposed to be _not_ feeling okay. But why do I feel strangely at ease?"

Sai breathed out a sigh of frustration, ruffling her hair messily. "Fuck this, I need help."

She opened up her phone to check the time, only to see it being spammed by Natsu with messages.

 _ **Eraserhead_Trash**_ _: r u ok_

 _ **Eraserhead_Trash**_ _: im sorry i didn't mean to :'(_

 _ **Eraserhead_Trash**_ _: FORGIVE MEE_

 _ **Eraserhead_Trash**_ _: seriously tho r u ok_

 _ **Eraserhead_Trash**_ _: i know it just took effect bc i felt it_

Sai felt confused by the last message. _What?_ What did Natsu feel?

 _ **SAIcopath**_ _: dafuq does that mean_

 _ **SAIcopath**_ _: also can you stop spamming my phone it's getting annoying you ass_

It was silent for a while, before the phone vibrated and a new message popped up.

 _ **Eraserhead_Trash**_ _: oh good you're back_

 _ **SAIcopath**_ _: what do you mean by you felt it?_

 _ **Eraserhead_Trash**_ _: look im sorry but long story short i emotionally manipulated you_

Sai could only stare at her phone blankly.

 _What?_

 _ **SAIcopath**_ _: excuse me wHAT?_

 _ **SAIcopath**_ _: also how do u deal with this_

 _ **Eraserhead_Trash**_ _: basically i tried to speed up your trauma recovery or tried to remove it altogether_

 _ **Erasehead_Trash**_ _: I might've gone overboard tho oops_

"Wait, _what the fuck?_ " Sai voiced out loud in bewilderment, stuck between being confused and shocked, while also feeling slightly betrayed that Natsu kept this from her.

 _ **SAIcopath**_ _: YOU CAN EMOTIONALLY MANIPULATE PPL? HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS_

 _ **Eraserhead_Trash**_ _: not really lol_

 _ **Eraserhead_Trash**_ _: more like i can remove psychological damage like trauma and stuff_

 _ **Eraserhead_Trash**_ _: also i can make ppl calm_

"..."

 _ **SAIcopath**_ _: i just realized that i just had a mental breakdown earlier but now im completely fine_

 _ **SAIcopath**_ _: is this supposed to be normal_

 _ **Eraserhead_Trash**_ _: ye pretty much_

 _ **SAIcopath**_ _: ...how_

Natsu didn't reply, although she was still online.

Sai groaned, done with it all. "I- I swear to god _I don't even know_ if she's bullshitting me at this point." She muttered under her breath, exiting out of the bathroom but not before messaging Natsu goodbye with a polite _'fuck off.'_

* * *

She returned back to the classroom just as the teacher exited out. _Whoops._

"Sai! You took so long in the bathroom! Are you okay?" Tenya asked her worriedly, doing his signature weird hand motions.

Sai waved him off, yawning. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, Ten-chin." She said, giving the bespectacled boy a tired smile. "I'm just... really sleepy right now."

Tenya looked doubtful, but nodded anyway. "...If you say so, then." He said uncertainly, before turning his back to scold some of their other classmates.

Sai rested her chin on her hands, propping up her elbows lazily on the desk. _'I wonder...'_

 _'…The thoughts have suddenly stopped now. Is this progression?'_

* * *

The number one hero picked Sai up from school, worry coursing through his veins.

Toshinori is worried about Sai. Not really because of the kidnapping, but because she looks _way too happy_ for someone who just got kidnapped.

The spiky haired kid was watching the television in interest, her eyes glued to the moving characters in the flat screen. Toshinori himself, meanwhile, is watching her intently.

He himself knows how people get affected by trauma. Smiling cheerily ( _genuinely_ ) clearly isn't part of the effects.

"Uh..." He trailed off uncertainly, seeing the questioning look Sai sent him, her TV show abandoned. Toshi doesn't really want to wreck her mood to be honest, but he just felt that something wasn't clearly right. "Are... you _sure_ you're okay now?"

She gave him an annoyed look, as he winced at his poor choice of words. "Alright, bad question, I know. But still, you're acting pretty... _unusual_ today." He said, as she rolled her eyes, returning her attention back to the screen.

"You think you're the only one who noticed that?" Sai suddenly muttered to herself with an irked look, staring at the screen darkly as he blinked. "I myself know that something's _wrong_ with me, To-chin." She deadpanned, still not looking at him as he sweatdropped.

So she herself is also aware. That's... okay? _Uh-_

Toshinori's pretty sure he's looking at her like a bomb about to blow up any second. "So... uh, what caused it?" He asked her, as she scratched her cheek in frustration, turning off the TV in frustration as she groaned.

 _"I don't know!"_ She screamed, her sudden outburst startling him. "All I know is that someone made me into- into _this!_ " She added, hastily motioning to herself.

He winced, feeling her frustration and confusion. Toshinori, as a kid, would probably also freak out if he knew someone manipulated his emotions.

"Uh, is that why you looked completely okay earlier?" He asked her just to make sure, as she stared at him in confusion. "I saw you laughing and- well, _genuinely_ enjoying yourself a while ago." He added, shrugging.

Sai gave him an unreadable look. "I'm..." She trailed off, narrowing her eyes. "I'm gonna ignore the fact that you just _stalked_ me-" Cue Toshinori's protests (he was just assuring her safety, damn it!) here "-and answer yes. That's the reason." She answered.

Ah. That... made much more sense. And oddly enough, it made him also relieved.

Relieved that she's not faking ( _she was faking it_ _ **from the start**_ _, yet you ignored it in fear of breaking her heart,_ a part of his mind traitorously whispered) and that her emotions, although manipulated, were _at least_ genuine. He honestly wouldn't know how to approach her if she pretended to be okay, when she's definitely not.

"...I'm gonna go to my room." Sai muttered after a while, finally feeling the awkward tension between them, "Ignore the screams." She said, her dull blue eyes piercing him. After that, she went inside, slamming the door loudly in the process.

And well, true to her word, Toshinori did ignore the string of loud curses that he heard inside Sai's room.

Not that it made him feel any better, of course.

* * *

 _"Stupid, stupid,_ _ **stupid!**_ _"_ Sai yelled as she angrily threw her pillows around. "I'm so fucking stupid for not knowing how to handle _th-this!_ " She cried, her voice cracking at the end.

" _Why?!_ _ **Why am I so fucking stupid?**_ **!** I don't even know what's freaking me out anymore!" Sai screamed, her face buried under her bed.

"...I _hate_ this. I hate this _so much_." Sai said, sniffing as tears streamed down her face.

( _She's supposed to be traumatized and confused and self-destructive like she's supposed to, right?_ _ **So why isn't she?**_ )

 **"Argh!"** She groaned, her voice muffled by the bed.

( _She hates this! She hates that this happened to her!_ _ **She hates not knowing what's happening to her!**_ )

Awhile after Sai calmed down (a bit) and could finally form semi-coherent thoughts, she pondered about what Natsu said.

 _'I emotionally manipulated you.'_

What did that mean? Why so vague? What type of manipulation makes you feel calm?

 _...Calm?_ _ **Calm mind-?**_

Sai narrowed her eyes, before face palming. _Of fucking course._ Her five-minutes-ago self is right. _She is stupid._ So fucking stupid for not realizing it sooner.

 _'Of course she could make people calm. I mean, she can literally do it to_ _ **herself**_ _,'_ Sai thought with a frown. _'Although I have to wonder why she told me a half-baked truth about her quirk.'_

 _Trust issues?_ _ **Most likely**_ _._ Sai herself has some.

She sighed, before grabbing her phone from the nightstand as she messaged Natsu.

 _ **SAIcopath**_ _: oi, about the calm thing_

 _ **SAIcopath**_ _: when will it last?_

Not long after, Natsu replied.

 _ **Eraserhead_Trash**_ _: oh that_

 _ **Eraserhead_Trash**_ _: bout a few days i think_

 _ **Eraserhead_Trash**_ _: you fine now?_

Sai contemplated whether to tell her the truth or lie.

 _ **SAIcopath**_ _: idk_

 _ **SAIcopath**_ _: probably_

 _ **Eraserhead_Trash**_ _: what the heck does that even mean_

To be honest, she doesn't know either.

Well, she supposed she could just wait for the... _thing_ to pass, if it ever will.

 _ **Eh.**_

* * *

She was starting to become a shut-in, and Toshinori didn't like it. The only solution he could think off?

He kicked her out of the apartment and dropped her off ( _literally_ , he dropped her like a sack of potatoes on their doorstep) at the Iida residence.

What she did?

She sought refuge at Tenya's room, specifically his closet, and became a shut-in there.

But then there's just that _someone_ who like to ruin her plans.

 _"What is this?!"_ Sai screeched, clawing her hands through the door as Tensei dragged her outside of Tenya's closet and in extension, his room. _"This is_ _ **harassment**_ _!"_

Tensei laughed, which just made her heart do a bunch of somersaults. God, after all these years she still couldn't get over her feelings?

( _Ugh_.)

"Come on now, Sai," he coaxed, to which she just huffed at. "There's no good in isolating yourself in Tenya's room. Just join us for lunch already." Tensei insisted, as she grumbled, yet eventually gave up in struggling.

She let herself be carried by Tensei like a sack of potatoes ( _hey_ , this is becoming a routine) as they both left Tenya's room and into the Iida family's dining room.

"You win this time, _jerk_ ," she mumbled to herself, as Tensei laughed at her remark.

Tenya, who just saw them coming down the stairs, blinked at the strange sight they both presented. "...Brother? Why are you carrying Sai like that?"

"This is an attempt of kidnapping."

"I'm inviting her to eat lunch with us."

Well, those were two contrasting answers.

Tenya just stared at both of them, slightly perplexed.

"...I'm not even gonna ask."

Sai grunted in irritation, rolling her eyes. "Good. I wasn't planning to answer, anyway."

Likewise, Tenya became irritated at her behavior. Not that she cares about that, _nope_.

She's honestly more worried about her current mental state. Sai's pretty sure that whatever thing Natsu did to her has worn off now, but still... _something_ isn't quite right.

That _something_ obviously led her to recluse herself from humanity, which made Toshinori kick her out of her own room, thus forcing her to interact with another human being.

In conclusion, she's worried about the usual social interaction. _Typical_.

She's pretty sure there's still _something_ wrong with her, though.

Somehow taking notice of her inner turmoil, Tensei lifted her up to his eye level, up until their noses touched. "Hm?"

Sai blushed, before turning his head away from him. "W-what?"

"...Is something bothering you?"

"Your face is bothering me," Sai somehow managed to deadpan, still blushing, to which Tensei noticed.

He gave her one of his (charming) smiles. "You mean this handsome face?" Tensei teased, tilting his head (adorably).

Sai gave him a blank stare in response.

He chuckled, setting her down as she crossed her arms. "Alright, alright. I won't do that again," Tensei said, before adding as an afterthought, "wouldn't want to face your drawing's wrath."

Sai frowned in response to that, her eyes showing how unamused she is right now. "Not funny."

"Right, right. If you say so."

Tenya, listening in to their conversation, silently snorted at his brother's sarcastic remark.

* * *

"Ittadakimasu," Sai boredly intoned, staring at the _thing_ that is Tensei's cooking with a doubtful look as her chopsticks hovered hesitantly above the object (because there's _no way_ it could be food) in question, "is this thing even edible?" she muttered under her breath, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly as Tenya coughed (did he just laugh-? _Oh my god_ ) beside her.

He elbowed her not so discreetly, as she turned to glare at him questioningly. "What did I do?" Sai mouthed at him, which did not escape the older Iida brother's notice.

"Don't be rude," was the bespectacled boy's reply, his lips pursed in a frown, "it's not as bad as it looks," he added, although she did see him look at it with the same lingering hesitance.

She grumbled, but then shrugged and took a bite of what is supposed to be smoked fish.

Smoked fish is _not_ supposed to be all black.

Still, it's not that... _bad_. More of a _'meh,'_ but she couldn't really complain. Maybe she should've stayed locked up in Tenya's closet, away from the danger of getting food poisoned.

...Or maybe it's just her paranoia talking, who knows.

"So, uh, where are your parents?" Sai asked after a bout of silence, noticing the absence of the remaining family members.

Tensei answered her, as Tenya looked awkwardly to the side, "On a date."

It was merely saving grace that Sai didn't manage to spit out whatever's inside her mouth at the blunt answer. "Okay," she's not sure how to react to that information.

It was silent after that, however an awkward one.

"Say," Sai said, "do you guys think I'm acting _weird_?" She asked the two brothers, as they both looked at each other in silent communication.

"Yes," they both deadpan at the same time, as she blinked at their response.

 _Hm_. So she was right.

( _Of course there's_ _ **something**_ _wrong with her, Toshinori literally kicked her out of the apartment because of it._ )

Sai hummed in acknowledgement, pondering. "So what is it?" She asked, tilting her head.

"What do you mean 'what is it'?" Tenya asked her incredulously, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"I meant what's wrong with me."

"Oh." Tenya didn't know how to respond to that, contrary to what she had expected.

Tensei frowned at her, leaning onto his chair. "Well, you seem to be more... withdrawn than usual." He remarked, as Tenya hesitantly nodded in agreement with him, "Not that you're already antisocial, of course."

That did _not_ comfort Sai whatsoever nor did she understand what Tensei had said at all.

It's safe to say that she's stumped at this point.

"...I think what my brother meant to say was," Tenya elaborated, adjusting his glasses as light glinted off of it, "you're being too hard on yourself."

Sai blinked, before raising an eyebrow. "What? No I'm not." She denied, frowning defensively as she violently stabbed her fish. " _Definitely not_." She mumbled quietly, almost as if reassuring herself.

...That hit harder than she thought. It hit _too_ close to home, to be honest.

She doesn't even remember when she was this... _paranoid_. She was so hell bent on making sure everything else was fine that she herself forgot to ask herself if she was indeed fine.

Does that even make sense? _No?_ Okay. She doesn't make sense either.

Sai sighed.

"I don't feel too good anymore." She mumbled, standing up from her chair and tossing her dish at the sink. She trudged up the stairs slowly, but not before glancing at the Iida brothers one last time.

They too looked conflicted and unsettled for her. She can't really blame them.

"I'm gonna... think through things." And with that, she went inside Tenya's room, and locked herself at his closet.

* * *

She _finally_ got her stuff together.

Tenya wondered when that happened.

"So, I was like, _'But oji-san, I don't even know how to do that!'_ and then he was like, _'I don't care,'_ and then he threw me off the building and To-chin was like _'Oh my God why did you do that?!'_ and I just released my drawing-"

She's definitely back to normal. He wondered when that happened.

"Sai?" He called her out, cutting her off from her rambling tirade. "You okay now?" He asked her quietly, gently; as if afraid that the question would break whatever state she's in.

She paused, blinking. "... _Yes_. I am now."

"Are you _sure-?_ "

"I don't have any hysterical breaks anymore, if that's what you're wondering about."

Tenya was certainly not wondering that, because he didn't even know about it in the first place. But still... It was nice to know that it's already over. Whatever it is.

"Erm... right."

It was silent after that.

Sai suddenly grinned, slapping him on the back. "Aw, c'mon Ten-chin! What's up with the constipated look?" She teased, as he sputtered indignantly at her remark.

Yes. _Definitely_ back to normal. He was sure of it.

* * *

Sai is feeling better than ever for the first time in her (second) life.

Everything has gone smoothly today. Her classmates treat her normally now, her teachers aren't walking on eggshells around her, and better yet, Natsu even found out some more information about their supposed savior, Eraserhead.

 _Life is good_ , she mused.

Too bad there's always that _one thing_ that's just there to ruin it.

Sai raised an eyebrow at Toshinori. "What?"

He nodded glumly. "Exactly."

The number one hero had just come home with heavy news that Natsu, fuckin' _Natsu_ of all people, went to America for _'treatment.'_

...Right, and how did Toshi know about her?

He blinked at her, confused. "What are you talking about?" Toshi asked. "I know her mother personally. She's your mother's best friend."

"Okay, now that's just bull." Sai deadpanned at the eerie coincidence. "Why would she need treatment, though?"

The blonde man sighed. "Well, she has chronic pancreatitis."

 _ **...?!**_

Sai's eyes widened. _What the fuck?_

Okay, the world has got to be messing with her now. Not only is the disease so painfully familiar with her, it's also the reason why her previous life's whole family has been reduced to _just Rin and her brother_.

It's painful; to encounter a disease that threatens the life of your friend.

 _More so if you yourself know the pain of having one._

"It's that bad?" She whispered in disbelief, as Toshinori nodded.

Sai looked at him in doubt. "But... she looked _okay_ when I met her."

"You know what Natsu's quirk does to her, Sai."

It seemed to dishearten her even more, finding out the fact as _worse_.

She smiled nervously at Toshi. "Yo- you're joking, right?" Sai asked, laughing weakly. "C'mon, say that you're joking, I won't be mad." She was close to crying now, her eyes brimming with tears. "H-happy April Fools?"

Toshi shook his head, his shoulders sagging as Sai felt hot tears running down her face.

"...Why am I crying?" She asked herself, as tears dropped on her palm. "I'm scared, Toshi." Her voice seemed to crack at the end, as the number one hero attempted to comfort her.

"Sai-"

"I _don't_ want to lose a friend!" She bawled unabashedly, as Toshi hugged her in an attempt to comfort. "I'm scared because she's just a _kid_ like me and- _and_ -" Sai paused, sniffing loudly, "and she's in pain and _I didn't know!_ "

 **"I'm a horrible friend!"**

Toshinori looked at her with sympathy. "You're not a horrible friend, Sai. In fact, you're the best friend I've ever had."

Sai didn't reply, she just pulled away from the hug and locked herself in her room, leaving Toshi to fret for her.

* * *

She hastily rummaged around her messy room, ignoring the tears still streaming down her face as she went to look for her phone. "C'mon, _c'mon_..."

"Aha!" She found her phone, just right under her pile of clothes. Sai quickly opened her phone and invited Natsu to a video chat, just to make sure that she- that it's _real_.

Natsu's face popped into her phone, her face scrunched up in concern. _"Sai?"_

Sai breathed out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank god I thought something happened to you."

The blonde girl laughed, smiling at her. _"What are you talking about, dude? I'm in America right now."_ She said, as Sai froze at the news. _"Right, I forgot to tell you that, haha."_ Natsu smiled sheepishly, giving a peace sign.

"...Chronic pancreatitis?" Sai asked in a whisper, almost afraid to hear the answer.

Natsu gasped in shock. _"Woah! How'd you know?"_ She asked curiously, not at all bothered by the fact that she currently has a deadly disease.

"It's true?" Sai asked, as Natsu nodded.

 _"Yep! I'm here right now for treatment,"_ she answered, before muttering, _"Whatever the hell the treatment is."_

 _"Anyways!"_ Natsu suddenly shouted, snapping Sai out of her stupor. _"I'm so bummed that I can't meet Eraserhead anymore! Worse, I can't go to UA to be a hero anymore!"_

Despite wincing at the girl's misfortune, Sai couldn't help but ask. "Er, right. Why can't you go to UA? Actually, why do you even want to go to UA?"

Natsu frowned at her. _"What are you talking about? I'm going to UA so I could be a hero! Plus, it's the only place where I can possibly meet Eraserhead!"_ She said, letting out a squeal of excitement at the last part. _"It's a shame that I have to stay in America for twenty years, though. Stupid disease and stupid treatment."_

Sai, realizing that she's still the same Natsu, diseased or not, sweatdropped. _Right_.

"Say, I'll do it for you." She blurted out without thinking, before realizing what she had just said.

Natsu tilted her head in a confused manner. _"Do what?"_

"...Think of this as a childish promise. Nothing more, nothing less." Sai firmly said after a moment of silence, frowning at Natsu, who looked intrigued. "I'm..."

"I'm gonna go study in UA to be a hero."

Silence.

Was that... a _gasp_?

Sai soon realized that Natsu was silently laughing, blushing as her frown deepened. "Shut up! Just think of it as returning a favor for saving my depressed ass!"

Now this time Natsu doubled over laughing, as her laughs could be heard from Sai's phone.

After Natsu finally calmed down, she gave a gleeful smile. _"You know what?"_

Sai, deciding to humor her, raised an amused eyebrow. "What?"

 _"I'd like that."_

That made Sai smile and finally wipe off her remaining tears.

"I'd like it too."

* * *

AN: would anyone mind if I change canon a bit? no? ok ill do it anyway lol- I mean I already put 'slight au' in the summary so ye-

p.s anime recommendations? i have no life pls i need more anime-


	14. Verbal Tic

**AN:** Hello, I am back and I got my laptop fixed _hA!_ **aNYWAYS,** this chapter seems more of a filler chapter so sorry bout that, _bUT_ i did add more depth to sai's inner thoughts and characteristics. also, more character interaction **yAAYYY-**

* * *

Sai is doing _fine_ , she thinks.

Toshinori seems to be thinking otherwise.

And as if to lighten up her mood, Toshi brought her to his Agency Office, which, ironically enough, was the sole reason why she got kidnapped and turned into a paranoid mess in the first place.

 _Nice._

For real, though. She's _fine._

"My sidekick, Sir Nighteye, is the one who's mostly in charge of all the work here," the number one hero lightly explained to her, as she was perched onto his broad shoulders, taking in to her surroundings. "He looks stern, but he's really not. You have to make him laugh for him to acknowledge you."

Sai hummed. _Eh,_ _ **is that so?**_

As she surveyed everything around her, she can't help but feel a bit left out, with her stupid overalls and large bright jumper. Honestly, everyone is literally formal here, in contrast to her casual look. It doesn't help at all when she realized that she's the only child here.

Not only that, but there are also a surprising amount of... employees here.

"Ah, they uh..." Toshinori scratched his head sheepishly, as she questioningly stared at him, "they're in charge of the media surrounding me."

 _Ah._

"Really?" Sai asked him, just realizing how popular he is now that he needs employees to take care of the media of all things. "That's... really troublesome, to be honest," she remarked, frowning thoughtfully.

"Being a hero must be such a drag," she drawled, dragging out the last word.

Toshinori just chuckled nervously, unable to respond at her comment. Sai noticed that he's being a lot more fidgety than usual, which does not fit his currently large physique at all.

Sai frowned. "Stop it."

Toshi paused, staring at her in confusion. "...Stop what?" he asked, tapping on his feet nervously.

Her frown deepened. " _That._ _Stop that._ Stop fidgeting. It's getting annoying."

What she didn't expect him to do flinch at what she said. "Jeez, I sincerely regret letting my teacher babysit you," he muttered quietly, yet still audibly enough for her to hear, "I didn't know that you'd get his habits that fast."

Sai chose not to respond to that comment, rolling her eyes instead.

Soon, they had arrived at Toshi's office, which looked simple enough on the outside.

Inside though, _wow._

"Are you sure this is an office?" asked Sai, glancing at the 'office' which looked nothing like an office. It's more of an advanced recreational room than an office, really.

The number one hero chuckled at her incredulity. "Yes it is, Sai," he answered, amused, before adding, "and no, I didn't forget where my office is. This really is my office."

"Right."

Sai hopped off Toshi's shoulder and bounced into one of the large couches- a nifty trick that she had learned from observing Gran Torino -as the door opened at the same time to reveal... _a businessman?_

He looks a bit stuck up, like something crawled up his ass and died. He... also looks like he wants to commit murder.

Sai blinked, approaching him, "I think you went to the wrong room, sir," she said, not at all intimidated by the man's stoic appearance, "I'm pretty sure this is All Might's office, not yours."

To her surprise, the man _laughed_.

Toshi's face turned bright red, looking highly embarrassed in the background. She wondered why.

"What's funny?" Sai asked, frowning at the man, "I'm not joking, dude. April Fool's already over last month," she deadpanned, causing the man to laugh harder.

After the man finally calmed down, he looked at Toshinori with something akin to amusement. "This is definitely hers," he stated, smirking at the number one hero's embarrassed look.

Sai finally decided it was the time to butt in. "I don't get it," she muttered with a confused look with hints of mild disturbance.

* * *

Proper introductions were exchanged, and Sai apparently had enough information about the man to hold judgment to him.

She decided that she likes (and obviously respects) Sir Nighteye; he seems pretty responsible, given that All Might himself trusts his sidekick to take care of the number one hero's agency.

Her respect grew when she found out his quirk was foresight.

 _...That's fucking_ _ **dope**_ _._

"So what do you think my future's gonna be?" were the words that tumbled out of her mouth as soon as she found out his ability, all the while smiling angelically at him.

Sir Nighteye looked like he was silently contemplating as to whether or not he should tell her, but Toshi already beat him to it.

"Sai," he warned, pursing his lips as she pouted at him, "what did I say about being demanding again?"

"...Don't demand stuff 'cuz it's rude," Sai mumbled, frowning sulkily at Toshinori, "but I just wanna know my future!" she whined uncharacteristically, before straightening herself, "I mean, I just want to know if everyone's fine."

The _'will Natsu still be alive'_ part went unsaid, but Toshinori already got her implication.

Nighteye, who sensed that their topic was sensitive, decided to leave the room quietly, but not before giving Toshinori a tense nod.

"Oh, um..." Toshinori didn't know what to do. "...Look, Sai," he sighed, crouching down at her level, "I'm going to be honest with you. Natsu... I don't know how much longer she'll... last."

 _Yes, of course_ , she gathered _that_ much, Sai thought, restraining herself from rolling her eyes.

"But you shouldn't ask someone to have the burden of seeing someone else's fate without expecting consequences," he said, as she looked down in shame, "Think about it this way, Sai. Do you think I'd stop your mother from bearing you if I'd known what would happen to her?" he softly asked, as she narrowed her eyes at his implication.

Sai was about to respond when Toshi cut her off. " _ **Exactly**_ _._ I would've done that regardless of what would happen to you just because I asked Nighteye of the future."

The spiky haired kid fumed in frustration. _She was just finding ways to help Natsu!_ _ **Was that so wrong?**_

"Your circumstance is different, To-chin," she rebutted, biting her lip angrily, "I could help Nat-chin without harming anyone," at least, not anyone _else._

Toshinori frowned. "I know what you're thinking Sai, and it won't work even if you do it," he said, as her face fell. "I really hate using this against you, but Natsu be really happy if you did it?" he asked, as she shook her head glumly.

"No, not really," Sai answered, her thoughts going back to her conversations with Natsu, and how much the blonde girl said about hating it whenever she hurts people because of them helping her.

 _Ugh_. Her dislikes are very specific, Sai herself once wondered if Natsu was just saying those to keep her from proceeding to do said thing.

 _God damn it, people here are too insightful for her own good._

"Well, whatever," Sai huffed, rolling her eyes, "Whatever the heck the vision is, it won't stop me from making sure Natsu's alive."

Toshinori smiled softly at her. "But whenever you need my help, don't hesitate to ask, okay?"

"Yeah, I will, To-chin. _**Promise**_ _._ "

* * *

"Oooh, that's _so_ cool!" Sai gushed, with stars in her eyes as Sir Nighteye showed her all the ins and outs of All Might's Agency. "So basically, you're the brains behind the Number One Hero's plans?" she asked, as he slightly blushed but nodded at her compliment.

Toshinori was sulking in the background, just a tiny bit jealous of their interaction. "Why did she make it sound like I don't have a brain?" he muttered to himself, as Sai, having heard of his statement, laughed out loudly.

"Ha! Someone's jealous!" she exclaimed, not bothering to elaborate. "Anyways..." she turned back to the green haired sidekick, who looked amused at the moment, "Hey, Nighteye-san, do you know To-chin's teacher?"

He hummed. "Oh, yes. I've met Gran Torino. Nice man, that he is," he remarked, as she nodded in agreement.

"I know, right?" agreed Sai, eyes flashing with mischief; a detail that Nighteye noticed. "Apparently someone thinks otherwise..." she sing-songed, flashing a smirk at Toshinori, who rolled his eyes.

Nighteye chuckled quietly, before ruffling the kid's untamed hair. "I think that's enough teasing for Toshinori-san, Sai," he commented, as Sai let out a shrug. He turned back to the number one hero in amusement. " _You're totally whipped._ "

Toshinori froze, as Sai once again laughed at the Symbol of Peace's amusing reaction. "Oh my god _, ahahaha!_ "

"Honestly, why was it a good idea to let these two meet again?" Toshinori muttered to himself.

* * *

As soon as Sai caught a glimpse of Sir Nighteye's office, she promptly screamed her head off. "What the f- _**why are there a lot of All Mights?!**_ " she screamed, looking mildly disturbed at the questionable amount of mementos about the aforementioned hero.

The hero in question had the audacity to look affronted at her offending looks towards him- _er,_ a particular life size cutout of All Might.

Sai did not want to know _where_ and _how_ the sidekick managed to get a cardboard cutout that big. She is also ignoring the fact that there's a literal pile of plushies of the number one hero right in the corner.

 _...Those cute little rascals._ She's gonna steal- _uh,_ borrow one of them. It's not like Nighteye's gonna notice, right?

 _ **Right**_ _._

"So... uh," Sai cringed, realizing how awkward her reaction must've been. "I didn't know you're a super fan," she scratched her head, sheepishly laughing, "I mean, no offense but... I was just really shocked, _y'know?_ I seriously didn't thought that you'd be a fan of... him," she said, jabbing a thumb at Toshi as the blonde man let out an indignant _'oi!'_

The sidekick nodded in understanding. "It's okay, I'm pretty unpredictable," he smiled, before adding, "In fact, I was such a fan that I myself came up to him and asked if I could be his sidekick."

Sai blinked, processing the information.

" _Okay,_ " she slowly said, raising an eyebrow. "I'm glad that you did?" she added hesitantly, not sure what to make of it, "I... don't think Toshi would be able to survive without you, considering what he does at home," she muttered quietly, shuddering at his 'cooking' and 'hobbies.'

God, just thinking about those (almost dead) houseplants of his already made her cringe.

Somehow hearing her, Nighteye chuckled. "Thank you for the compliment," he said, his eye crinkling as Sai beamed.

 _Score!_ She finally got to make him laugh _on her own_!

(It does not include the April Fools one. _No._ That was just her idiocy taking its own time to shine.

 _She was_ _ **serious**_ _about that, damn it!_ )

"Ahh, another hero acknowledged my greatness!" she couldn't help but boast out loud, forgetting the fact that she's currently in the presence of said heroes. "Surely with this, I can get recommend to UA."

What an arrogant piece of shi- _turd_ she is, am I right guys?

Toshinori blinked, unsure of what he had just heard. "Did you just say _'UA,'_ Sai?" he asked in surprise, for he had never really expected the spiky haired girl to be interested in attending his alma mater.

Sai nodded, eyes shining in determination. "Yep! I'm gonna be a hero!" she said, unwittingly revealing her plans to Toshinori, who looked slightly alarmed at the news.

" _W-what?_ " he asked, in shock. And to be honest, he had every right to be. One look at Sai would immediately make people think, _'This kid does not have any motivation whatsoever.'_

Nighteye adjusted his glasses. "Why do you want to be a hero, Sai?" he asked her curiously, as she bit her cheek and pondered.

"Well... it's stupid, really." she admitted, letting out a sheepish laugh. "I just wanted to help my friend, _y'know?_ " she said, shrugging. "I realized that I could help her- at least _, financially_ -by being a hero, because obviously," she paused, staring at the still-in-shock form of Toshinori, "heroes get paid here, and they're _loaded_ ," Sai said, emphasizing the word 'loaded.'

Not to mention that by going to UA, she could also fulfill her promise to Natsu, and in extension, also return a favor to her.

 _...Man, her initial reason to Nighteye sucks,_ Sai thought with a frown. She _really_ needs to sharpen her word play.

Perhaps she should've put in some fancy words to make it less childish? Whatever, it's too late to dwell on it now.

"Anyway-" Sai turned to Toshinori, holding her arms out, "Carry me, To-chin!" she demanded childishly with a gleeful smile, as the number one hero snapped out of his stupor.

"... _Right,_ " picking up the spiky haired kid, Toshinori nodded at his sidekick and said his goodbyes, as she waved at Nighteye, who waved back.

* * *

To-chin was right. Sai did indeed feel better because of the mini-Hero Agency tour.

 _Or was that a false sense of security?_ Sai doesn't know, and she doesn't want to find out.

Either way, she isn't gonna tell Toshi, that's just asking for trouble (and a _shit ton_ of teasing).

(Also, _paranoia._ )

Sai hummed at she was perched atop the number one hero's shoulders. "So where are we goin' to next, To-chin?"

"How about _you?_ Where do you want to go?" Toshinori, still in the guise of All Might, asked back as she frowned in thought.

After giving it some thought, she snapped her fingers and pointed straight ahead. "Let's go to Gran Torino's!"

Toshinori paled, almost dropping Sai as he tripped over thin air. " _W-what?_ "

Sai frowned, disappointed at his response. "You _suck_. Why are you even scared of him?" she asked, as Toshinori finally gathered his wits to glare weakly at her, "What? I'm just sayin'," she said, shrugging.

The number one hero muttered some things about _'being spartan'_ and _'sadistic'_ but Sai just rolled her eyes at his exaggeration.

"Oh, stop being dramatic," she groaned, taking a fistful of his hair as he slightly yelped, "Let's go already!" she half-heartedly whined, yanking onto his hair as he sighed but followed.

"Fine, _fine_." Toshinori pulled her hands away from his locks and lifted her to his eye level, giving her a stern look. "Please _don't_ do that again," he muttered tiredly, already resigning himself to her commands- _er,_ wishes.

She merely gave him a cheeky grin, her eyes holding a devilish tint to them. "Okay."

The Symbol of Peace has a bad feeling with **that** **smile**.

...Although it could also be just his nerves quaking about the inevitable meeting with his former teacher, who knows.

* * *

Sai was still smiling when they finally arrived at Gran Torino's place, a sight that made Toshinori inwardly _shudder._

"...Can I leave her here?" he muttered to himself, to which Sai heard and nodded enthusiastically.

She smiled brightly, making her eyes seem bigger (and more adorable, _oh my god she's_ _ **so cute-**_ ) than usual. "Sure you can! If you want, you can even pick me up later in the evening!" she said, and if it wasn't possible enough her smile grew _wider_.

Toshinori was ashamed to admit that he had considered Sai's suggestion. He was even more ashamed to admit that he had _immediately_ agreed with her, quickly running away as soon as he heard the sound of the door about to be opened.

He wondered why Sai was smiling so much, though. If he was more observant than he thought himself to be, he would even consider that Sai was encouraging him to leave.

 _Alas,_ he wasn't paying attention to such details.

* * *

As soon as Toshi flew away to oblivion (or to wherever superheroes brood and hang out) Sai dropped her practiced smile, which... _isn't_ much practiced.

 _Yet._

She rubbed her cheeks, just realizing the pain of straining it too much. "God, I didn't know that smiling could be _this_ painful..." she muttered to herself, as Gran Torino finally showed himself, his eyes looking around until he finally spotted her.

Sai gave him a lazy wave. "Yo."

"What do you want?" was her much welcomed response.

She pouted childishly, crossing her arms. "Is asking for some guidance and advice really too much to ask?"

The old man didn't even hesitate. "Yes."

Sai scowled, before scratching her head in frustration. "Okay, man. I'm serious," she said, tapping her foot impatiently. "I _really_ need your help."

Gran Torino rolled his eyes, making a way for her to go in. "Brats; could _never_ understand them."

"I heard that."

As Sai finally made herself comfortable on the couch, Gran Torino prompted her to explain. "So... I think To-chin's pissed at me-"

" _Oh, really?_ Why am I not surprised?"

"-and that he's probably..." Sai paused, just registering what the old man said, "... _Hey!_ It's complicated, _y'know!_ And you're literally the only one I could talk to about it!"

Gran Torino frowned at her, as she frowned back. "What makes you think that he's mad at you?"

Sai blinked, not expecting the question. "Wait, _what?_ "

The old man just stared at her pointedly, waiting for her to explain herself.

"Well... I just-" she bit her lip, confused, " _I was being paranoid, okay!?_ " she finally admitted, as Gran Torino gave her a blank stare. "I thought he was worried, really- but I didn't want to be guilty of making him worried so instead my _stupid brain_ -" she hit her head with her fist at this "-decided to think that he's mad at me," she said all in one breath, "Well, not that it made any difference of course," she added sourly, just realizing how _utterly_ _ **stupid**_ her words were.

And true to her thoughts, Gran Torino did say that she's stupid.

"Shut up, you're supposed to be comforting me, _damn it_ ," Sai muttered, frowning.

Gran Torino snorted. "Heh, the day I'll get to comfort you is the day a rat will talk to you," he said, smirking as she groaned and rolled her eyes. "Now shoo, and go do your weird training regimen. If I'm not mistaken, I'm just here to babysit you," he said, drawling at the word _'babysit'_ as Sai groaned.

"Shut up! I'm not a kid, damn it!"

 _...Funny_ , Sai felt like those were the **wrong** words to say.

* * *

Toshi returned back when Sai texted him. He looked... _kind of_ worried when he saw her covered in dust and is looking really tired.

 _Wait._ _ **This seems familiar.**_

"...Is this just me, or is this deja vu?" Sai squinted at Toshinori, who looked visibly worried at her grimy and slightly battered form. "Seriously, I feel like I've seen that look before."

Toshi was unamused. "You see this look every day because you do the same reckless thing every day," he deadpanned, as the spiky haired girl shrugged.

She smirked. "Well, I can't help it, _y'know?_ " she remarked, before suddenly yawning. "Oh, wow. I didn't realize it's already this late," she murmured, half delirious as she stared up at the stars.

 _ **...Nah,**_ _she can't think of any poetic shit about the sky unlike other fanfics._

"You're tired," Toshinori stated, picking her up as she muttered something incoherently.

 _(No shit.)_

"Alright, let's go home now."

"Mm, _'kay_."

* * *

Contrary to popular belief, third graders are actually _not_ _ **that**_ _stupid_.

"Hinata-chan!" Sai jolted awake at the mention of her last name, as she looked around with tired eyes while smothering a yawn.

Where was she? Oh, _right._

Lunch break. At school.

Right, _right._ Everything was different now.

Sometimes she forgets about _that._

Yuri didn't look happy at her lack of attention. "Did you even listen to what I said earlier?" she whined, pouting as Sai blinked, racking her thoughts for anything to say.

"Uh..." was her intelligent response. Not good. Yuri was glaring at her already. "...You said you like Takeshi?"

Yuri's face exploded into a bright red. " _W-what?!_ " she yelled, before glaring at their classmates who stared at her exclamation. After all attention was lost from them, Yuri grabbed her by the collar threateningly... or as threateningly a third grader could get. "How did you know that?" she hissed.

Sai did not expect that reaction. "Dude," she raised an eyebrow, gently pulling herself away from Yuri's tight grip, " _I was_ _ **joking**_ _._ "

She was met with silence.

Contrary to popular belief, third graders are actually _not_ _ **that**_ _stupid_. But really, to be honest, they're _**still**_ _stupid_.

Sai is ashamed to be considered as one of them.

"Sai?" Tenya walked over to her desk, all the while staring at an angry Yuri's retreating form. "Did you say something stupid again?" he asked, as Sai shrugged.

Hmm... she wondered how long she could get under Ten-chin's skin. She hadn't tested _yet_.

She stuck her tongue out in response. "I don't say 'stupid' things, Ten-chin," she said, leaning on one elbow, "I'm just too smart for our classmates," she added, as a sudden gust of wind flew by them.

(...She is _not_ arrogant.)

"Sai, you're being arrogant," Tenya deadpanned, as Sai harrumphed.

"Excuse me?" she asked sarcastically, "I'm just stating facts, thank you very much," she rebutted, clicking her tongue. She stared at Tenya from the corner of her eye to see his reaction, only to see him looking peeved at the situation.

Sai couldn't help it; she laughed out loud.

"Oh, _wow._ I did not expect _that_ reaction, but you were just _too_ easy," Sai said, amusement lacing her voice. Tenya just sighed in exasperation, already tired of her shit.

"I'm not surprised why our classmates think you're a mean person now," he frowned in disapproval, doing his signature hand motion.

Sai smirked, deciding to humor him. "Why is that so?"

Tenya just gave her a pointed stare, instead asking, "You really know how to push people's buttons, do you?"

Sai gave him a shark-like grin. "You have _no_ _**idea**_."

* * *

Sai sometimes wondered why her power was both _so frustrating and fascinating_.

She learned the reason when she got her ass handed to her by an old man. Specifically, Gran Torino.

"I am in pain," Sai wheezed out as Gran Torino stared in amusement at her prone form, "Help... _me_."

He _laughed_ at her misery.

 _The fucking_ _ **prick**_ _._

"I hate you," she said, slowly regaining her bearings as she sat upright, "Why the _hell_ would you do to a seven year old child?" she asked incredulously, staring at her (unofficial) quirk trainer-slash-torturer with mixed admiration and fear.

Gran Torino merely blinked. "You're not exactly a normal seven year old."

"And that makes it acceptable?"

He laughed, dodging her annoyed reply.

 _What a prick._

Sai began to doodle on her arm, feeling the rough texture of the solvent based marker touching her skin as Gran Torino waited for her to finish her preparations, only for him to utterly destroy it and put her ass on the ground.

 _ **Again**_.

It's getting really tiring, to be honest.

"Wait- _wait!_ " Sai's eyes widened, as caught something from the corner of her vision. Alas, Gran Torino kept on advancing onto her. Her eye twitching, Sai yelled out, "I said _wait,_ god damn it!"

Gran Torino paused, his clenched fist hovering dangerously above her head which she was pretty sure is going to concuss her _and probably break her skull-_

( _No._ She was well over the trauma already. Joking satirically about it is just rubbing salt on an old wound. _Practically useless._ )

"...What?" the old man asked her impatiently, raising an eyebrow.

Sai narrowed her eyes. "Did- didn't you punch the drawn eagle earlier?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Didn't it explode into ink goo after you punched it?"

"And what if it did?"

Sai pursed her lips, pointing a finger at the still somehow intact eagle drawing. "Then why is this still flying?"

True to her words, the drawing in question remained static in the air, although the wings became slightly deformed, mostly due to Gran Torino's punch.

" _Hmm_ -"

"Okay, I'm out," the old man suddenly said, interrupting her about to become monologue.

Sai gave him the stink eye. "Fine. Don't help. I could handle this anyway."

In the end, she could handle it. _Kind of._

She had to get help (not really) from an irate Gran Torino and a _very_ worried Toshinori because she somehow got stuck on top of a lamp post upside-down with her head dangerously dangling over the edge.

 _ **How**_ _did she get help, exactly?_

Let's just say her shouts of profanity were _very_ loud.

"Don't worry Sai, I'll get you down!" Toshi held up his arms with a reassuring smile with Gran Torino looking feeling the opposite beside him, "Now jump! I'll catch you!"

Sai frowned. Wait, _how did_ _ **he**_ _know she was in trouble?_

"No, _go away,_ " she deadpanned, as Toshi faltered at her blunt refusal, "I can handle this myself."

She whistled with her fingers, before raising both her hands as an eagle swooped in and carried her into oblivion-

 _Nah, just kidding._ The bird dropped her off safely on the ground before disappearing off into the sunset or something.

Toshi was shocked at the spectacle, his jaw hanging. Gran Torino helped him recover by forcibly closing the number one hero's mouth.

"You've done well today, kid," Gran Torino complimented, to which she smirked at, "Much better than this idiot did during his high school days."

Toshi chose not to react to that statement in fear of his teacher's wrath. He instead fussed over her disheveled look again. "What happened? _Why are you so dirty?_ " he asked, scrunching up his nose in disgust.

"Sparring happened," Sai explained, letting herself be carried by the blonde man, "Don't even try to lecture me. The old man already did," she added, as she gave Gran Torino a dirty look.

Toshi gave the old man a look of half-disdain and half-gratitude, before settling the spiky haired kid on his shoulders. "We're off, then," he said, before taking off with Sai.

She huffed, but had a smile playing on her lips. _"This is so fucking_ _ **ridiculous**_ _,"_ she muttered softly, as Toshi was vaulting them both over buildings with his superb quirk.

"What's ridiculous?" Toshinori asked, apparently hearing her small remark.

Sai blinked, before answering, "The fact that _this_ has become a normal thing," she laughed hysterically, not caring if she sounded crazy to Toshinori.

Ah, he laughed too. That's kind of comforting.

Too bad he had misunderstood her answer.

Seriously, who knew that she'd get _reborn,_ _have a super power, get fucking_ _ **kidnapped**_ _, meet a hero, and then get trained to be one?_

No one, that's for sure.

... _Maybe_ Lady Luck is actually in her side all this time.

* * *

 **Omake: Intellect**

"As both of you may know, I am actually smarter than both of you," Tensei stated, pointing at both of them.

Tenya blinked.

Sai coughed once. She raised an eyebrow. _"Excuse me?"_

Tenya blinked once more, before looking at his brother intently. _"...Really?"_

Tensei frowned at the reaction he was getting. " _Seriously?_ You guys don't believe me?" he asked, voice with a tint of whine to it.

Sai crossed her arms, deadpanning, "Well, I would believe if you weren't so stupid sometimes- no, wait-" she paused, "- _all the time_."

"Why _you_ -" Tensei stopped, turning to his younger brother, eyes pleading for help.

Tenya shrugged, unsure of where to side. "Uh, _actually_..." he said, looking at Sai with something akin to confusion, "I have a more important question; why are you insulting my brother?" he asked, as Sai raised an eyebrow, "I thought you have a crush on him?"

Tensei blinked. "Wait," he looked at Sai, as he was pointing to himself, " You what?"

"Okay, first of all," Sai gave Tenya an annoyed look, "How dare you expose me, _traitor_ ," she hissed at him, "We're having a talk later."

She clicked her tongue, before staring at Tensei who seemed to stopped working a few seconds ago. "Second of all; he's _my_ crush, I can do whatever the hell I want with him."

Tensei apparently recovered after hearing that particular statement. "You know, why do you make it sound like your crush is your possession or something?" he muttered.

Sai chose to ignore him in favor of talking to Tenya. _"Why did you betray me,_ _ **Ten-chin?!"**_

Tenya blinked, internally face palming. _Right,_ and he thought _they_ were smarter than him.

* * *

 **Hidden Files** / **Rin's Life** / **Rage**

 _Open?_

 **(Yes) No**

 _File Opened. Enjoy._

...

"Right... _right.._." Rin pursed her lips, squinting her eyes at the bright light the laptop's monitor seemed to emit. "I still have _no idea_ how this shit works."

It was the middle of the night, and Rin was on her laptop in her dark room, trying out a new digital art software.

She is... getting better at it. _Somehow._

And then monitor turned pitch black for a second, before turning back on only to see that the program had crashed.

Rin stared at it for a moment, processing what she had just witnessed.

 _"...What the_ _ **fuck**_ _?"_

And then shit hit the fan.

 _ **"What the hell?!"**_ Rin hollered angrily, grabbing her laptop and shaking it back and forth (which she had realized later has done nothing at all to improve the stupid thing's performance whatsoever) as she mourned for her unfinished artwork that was not saved.

 _God damn it._

The sound of footsteps suddenly made her pause, before she was suddenly blinded by a bright light. "Gah! _What the fuck?_ " she covered her eyes, squinting at the familiar silhouette in front of her.

Once she got a clear look at it, she raised an eyebrow. "Oh, it's _you_ ," she muttered, unimpressed, "Seriously, I thought Jesus was standing in front of me for a moment."

Her older brother frowned at her sarcasm. "What the hell are you doing, screaming _this_ late?" his bloodshot eyes scanned her room before landing on her laptop and seeing its contents.

He raised an eyebrow. _"... You're screaming over_ _ **Microsoft Paint?**_ _Really?_ "

Rin blushed, before glaring at her laptop darkly. It wasn't her fault that she _accidentally_ opened Microsoft Paint while she was viciously attacking her laptop!

"Ugh, you know _what_?" her brother glared at her tiredly, " _Whatever._ Just try not to do that again."

And with that, he slammed the door, leaving her again to her devices.

Rin turned her attention back to her laptop, searching then how to recover unsaved works in that program.

She somehow forgot that concept existed in the midst of her... _rage._

 _Alright then._ Time to add something new to her list of to-do's then.

 _ **# 194: Try to control your anger, idiot. It makes you more retarded than usual.**_

There, all _done_.

...

 _Save file?_

 **(Yes) No**

 _File saved._

 _Close file?_

 **(Yes) No**

 _Closed._

* * *

 **AN [SLIGHTLY IMPORTANT PLZ READ]:** surprise surprise! an _omakeeeeee-_ also _whasdis? **a hidden file?**_ anyway, i wanted to make the last one as an omake too, but i really wanted to show that rin is _different_ from sai, and that it also seemed a bit more serious ( _but this one?_ not really lol) than other lighthearted lulz omakes that i make. so i decided to make it a spin-off ( _kinda_ ) to show how sai had that stupid annoying attitude and also to compare rin and sai. anyway, das all for now- _hope you enjoy this chapter **woop-**_


End file.
